And Away We Go...

Hello, my name is Kathleen and I love animals.

That's how you typically introduce yourself when dealing with an addiction, correct? Splendid! Let's move on.

From the moment I was old enough to decide things, I decided that when I grew up, I would be an animal doctor. I continued to decide this until I hit high school and came to the sudden realization that, as an animal doctor, I would be responsible for putting my addiction to sleep. Oops! Leave it to me to not truly think things through and ignore the painfully obvious.

So I tucked my tail between my legs and chickened out. I decided that a music major was a much safer option; almost never resulting in putting things to sleep.

Off I went to college, where it took me about 1.5 years to decide that oops! I'd made another mistake and realized that I wasn't nearly as addicted to music as the other music majors were. So I left that college to try and figure out where to go next. 10 years and 1 photography degree later, I finally put on my brave face and looked into veterinary medicine.

I set up a couple meetings with my vet (the most awesome person in the world) and shadowed at her clinic a couple times to see how I handled it. On the first day I shadowed, there was a stillborn puppy and a golden retriever that had passed away the evening before. I cried. A lot.

And then I went home and rather than wanting to throw myself into oncoming traffic, I realized I wanted to do it again. And then I punched myself in the face for wasting the past 11 years.

Long story short(er), I enrolled in a vet tech program and here I am, 5 months later. I've just finished my first round of classes and have been working at a local vet hospital for just over a month. And I couldn't possibly love it more. Well, no, I take that back, those euthanasias wreck me every time. But I still come away wanting to go back, so I believe I've finally found the courage to do this. I'm finally doing what I've always wanted to do and I welcome you to join me as I work towards my vet tech degree first, and eventually, my DVM. Go ahead and place your bets - first window to your left. Let's see if I can do this.