Fun Monday #11 Our Super Hero

Kitten wants us to share our super-hero. I almost didn't sign up for FM this week.....because I wasn't certain who that would be. I probably should have stuck with that initial inclination.

There are several people who deserve the award of Super Hero for sticking with me through some very tough times, but some of those relationships are private (i.e. not quite ready for BlogWorld exposure). However, the odd thing is that when I think about those really tough times in my life, the times when something had to change.....there are angels among us, people who become super-heroes, perhaps, without even knowing that they were.

I'll share one of them.

Super hero #1, random nice guy on the street. I went to graduate school before medical school. I had always been interested in medicine, but for several different reasons, did not think that I would make a good doctor, or even be able to get into/through medical school.

Graduate school became my own personal hell. Without airing on the bad and the nasty (but it was not a pretty time in my life....), the process systematically destroyed me as a person. I lost faith in my abilities. I had gone to a program associated with a medical school because I wanted to do basic science research that would hopefully, some day, have an impact on people. As I got further into my graduate program, the link between people and the research seemed too remote. I regretted the fact that I hadn't tried to conquer my fears to go to medical school, yet the systematic destruction of my self-confidence in graduate school, had left me....in a deep hole. While waiting for an appointment, some young, handsome man was sitting next to me. As we were both stuck in the waiting mode, we started talking -- he asked me what I did for a living. I explained that I was a graduate student. Somehow, in a 30 minute conversation, he drew me out. When I told him that I felt like I had made a mistake, that I should have tried to go to medical school rather than graduate school, he gave me a look of incredulity: "If you can be a graduate student in that department, you certainly have what it takes to be a medical student anywhere. Sounds like they are doing a good job of destroying you. You need to go to medical school. Just go to the undergraduate counseling office and ask an undergraduate student counselor to point you in the right direction." And so, I changed the direction of my life. I did complete my graduate career (with the goal of going to medical school afterwards).

I have no clue who that young man was. That simple conversation changed the direction of my life. (BTW, he wanted to become a nurse). You never know when a simple, kind comment may help a person in a hole, change their life and give YOU the designation of super hero.

Random nice guy on the street: You are one of my super heroes.

On a different topic. We traveled this weekend. I needed to get out of town for a break, and marathon drives sometimes do that for me. I no longer wonder why there is dog hair on the roof of my van.....

I hope everyone has a great week. Thanks for coming by and remember, kind words at the right time may make you into somebody's super-hero!