During spring break I came up with the idea of visiting Texas A & M's school of veterinary medicine to get a preview of colleges for Grace.
For quite some time she has said she wanted to be a vet. I'm not sure if she understands what that means, but she has stuck with it for a while.
My background of working with career exploration for clients showed me that people need to take time to really look at potential careers, not just pick a degree and hope that it fits.
When I went to college, I did not think women had a choice in a career, but being a nurse or a teacher and since I could not stand the sight of blood, I went into teaching. While I enjoyed teaching, no one mentioned how low the pay was back in the days when I taught. So after just 5 years I went on to something else. And something else. And something else.
So why not help my daughters do their career exploration early?
I had checked with A & M and they explained that spring break wasn't the best time to come since they would also be closed, but they had an open house at the end of April.
I really was not sure if we would make it since Grace was not up to speed on Friday, but a good night's sleep and she was ready to go. Annabel and I packed quickly and we headed down to Bryan and College Station.
Surprisingly I have been to China twice but never to College Station.
The drive was just beautiful and the wildflowers are just beginning to bloom. There were so many pretty little towns that you could easily see yourself relocating to if your kids ended up in College Station.
By the time we arrived it was quite evident that a LOT of families had the same idea. There was a wide variety of activities, most with long lines.
Since teddy bear surgery had been a big draw to making the trip, we managed to wait the 1 1/2 hours to get into surgery.
Annabel left her stuffed animal in the car, but thankfully they had plenty to choose from for a small donation. For almost the entire time we waited, Annabel worked through her thousands of choices of stuffed animals switching from large to small, dogs to bears, and at the last minute settled on a dog that had a heart hanging from its mouth and "LOVE YA" on its back side.
When we finally got in, the vet students made sure the girls were "prepped" for surgery. They had hair nets, masks, gloves, gowns, and even slippers over their shoes. It was all quite believable from appearances. The vet students then did a complete examination of the animal and asked each girl what was wrong with their animal. Grace took her bear "Starry" which is the bear I sent her while she was still in China. It was one of the only gifts she actually received from all the care packages I sent, so she did not want major surgery on her bear.
But Annabel was all into it and decided the heart hanging from her dog's mouth needed to be removed and inserted in where the heart belongs. The vet student was very meticulous in her stitching up the dog with it's heart back in place. Grace's bear ended up with a back brace due to some recent "falls" she had experienced.
From there we wandered through the rest of the many displays. There were so many dog rescue groups with dogs available. It was really hard to leave with no new ones!
At the end of the open house, we found where they were doing face painting, liquid nitrogen experiments, color examination, and the most popular event of the day - balloon animals! I thought the girls were going to stay there the rest of the time. The only way they left was the chance to see some ferrets.
So if veterinary medicine does not work out, they can fall back on their new skills of balloon artistry. I've even bought them both a kit at the dollar store and loads of new animals are being created!
We had a room reserved in the Memorial Student Center, which took calling twice to get directions. Upon inspection I wished I had spent a little more so we had more than room for just the bed in the room! I don't think I have stayed in a room that small since a time in London and then it was only me! BUT the girls LOVED it. They did not want to leave the room and thought it would be spectacular to stay in the rest of the day and watch the TV!!
BUT we had places to go, people to meet, and things to do.
My mom had begged me to call a distant cousin, which I did, and we met for dinner. It was great fun and her daughter, who is only 5, entertained Annabel throughout the meal!
Afterward we enjoyed a huge scoop of homemade ice cream and a trip to Half Price Books. Annabel was VERY disappointed that she could only find 1 book in Chinese. Actually there was another, but it was Harry Potter and we have it n Chinese!
Although it was a very late night and everyone was way too tired, Grace could not give up and go to sleep until I laid down. I think I forgot to mention that our room had one king size bed. There had been a lot of discussion as to who would sleep in the middle and I guess I drew the short straw because it was decided I would.
So to gt Grace to go to sleep I jumped into the middle of the bed and within minutes, all of us were asleep and slept much later than intended!
Denny's has done too much advertising and made me want to eat there! Only everyone in town also had seen the ads. Annabel grows way too impatient when making her wait. I keep trying to help her learn deep breathing so she doesn't have to drive me CRAZY tapping, clicking, snapping anything she can find!!!
We made it home safe but along the way heard about the adventures Mom had with the dogs while we were gone.
The pet sitting service didn't show up as planned so it left Mom to take care of our hounds! They seemed very concerned about the situation and where we might be so they did not want to do their usual routine. Then Ollie found an opportunity to run!
Evidently Dad's voice works the same way on dogs as it does on kids and for once, Ollie came running back!
We made the trip home safe and sound and the dogs were very glad to see us. Not nearly as glad as Mom, so we could take over our dog's affairs.
The girls practiced their new vocational goal tonight - balloon artists! Great!
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