I sorta just "happened" into the career I had as a long time before returning to school this past fall: speechwriting/marketing-advertising communications for a high-tech company. It wasn't based on any deep love or interest in that field as much as it was a fit for the skills I'd picked up in college and grad school. And it happened to work with my desire to only work part time and to take care of my primary job, which, as I see it, is being a wife and mother. During all those years in that career, I dreamed about moving in the direction of my real interest, which is medicine. But I knew that'd be demanding and also wanted to make sure my son was grown and off to college before I took on a major life change like going back to school.

If I had it to do all over again, I'd have probably done the same thing since I made the choice to have a family. But I still think people need to try as hard as they can to do work that they love, especially men, who define themselves by their careers more strongly than women do, I think. If you love what you do and it interests you, you'll do better than if that's not the case. Life's too short to go through it in an unfulfilling career, even one that pays a lot of money.