What is your ten year plan?

Not that long ago, a graduate student I worked with asked me what my career goals were when I was at her stage of graduate school.  The answer could not be more different then where I have ended up.  I love microbiology and infectious diseases.  I'm one of those crazy people who thinks a new epidemic or the discovery of a new disease is AWESOME!  I do realize that people are affected by these new germs, I just find it incredibly interesting.

When I was just a few years into graduate school my goal was to become a virus chaser.  I wanted to be the person who was sent out into the field to investigate outbreaks of known and unknown pathogens.  Of course, Africa was considered ideal because of the variety and severity of diseases that come out of the continent.

In my last year of graduate school I got pregnant and it just didn't seem right to go trapsing around a disease infested rain forest while my child and husband were waiting for me at home.  I still wanted to do research on infectious viruses and eventually head my own lab.  Never in a million years did I think I would ever want to stay home.  I started my postdoctoral fellowship and was on my way.  Then I had our son and life got more complicated.  The 30 minutes to an hour I spent in the car one way to and from work started cutting too much into family life.  The kids were in daycare more than they were at home.  Our daughter would even beg to stay home on weekends instead of going to the grocery store just to be at home.

But I did 9 years of post high school education and have the student loans to prove it.  To leave work seemed like a waste of all those years and my husband would have to pay my loans.  It still seems a little odd to be home when I'm trained to do technical research.  Right now, even though I've only been home a few weeks, it seems like the right place for me.  We're expecting our third child and my husband travels often.  So gone are the dreams of virus chasing; replaced by potty training, Barbies and car pool.  I'm not upset those initial career goals didn't happen; priorities change, life happens and I'm happier now than I've ever been.