Tea for two... or maybe forty-two

Rush really strives to foster the student teacher relationship.  Every month they have a student-faculty tea at the "Rush House" a few blocks from campus.  It's a great opportunity to mingle with faculty on a casual basis and with students in other disciplines.  I've always been curious about the event, but never brave enough to approach it solo.  My friend Mary has been on the fence about nursing since she started the program.  Why would a person who freaks out about germs and disease and hates hospitals be a nurse she wondered.  She confided into her adviser and the prognosis was good.  Mary is staying.... for now.  Her adviser also invited her to join in the tea party so I jumped on that bandwagon too.  Actually her adviser was the same woman who interviewed me and as we were talking she actually remembered who I was, I was impressed!

The house was really nice inside (Im sure someone's tuition money went toward building and furnishing this house for the president).  They had a team of chefs come in and make mini appetizers and deserts and they have tea, coffee and punch.  Then a faculty member gives a brief 15 min presentation about their career or what-have-you.  The speaker this time talked about her long journey to get where she was.  It started with her wanting to be a bedside nurse because she loved General Hospital.  She actually loved the show so much that her mom would take notes while she was at school and tell her all it when she got home.  Much to her surprise she realized actual bedside nursing was not like it was depicted in General Hospital.  She dabbled in a few areas of nursing, got her Masters, taught, got her PhD and now is doing some amazing research with AIDs patients.  The moral of her story was don't try to write your career path, just let it unfold and it's okay if getting from point A to point B is not a straight line.  In fact, that's perfectly normal.  What's important is that you just love what you're doing.