Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda

My dad should have been a pizza chef. If he was, he would own the most popular pizza restaurant in the country. People would be lining up outside his restaurant just waiting for a bite of one of his famous pies.  Over the years, he has tried many different dough recipes, from the typical flour/yeast/sugar/salt variety to the three day-long process of cold dough fermentation.  He has experimented with many oven temperatures as well as grilling pizza on his barbecue grill.  He has compared pizza pans versus pizza stones, cornmeal versus cornstarch (to prevent the pizza from sticking), homemade versus store-bought sauce and all types of cheeses, toppings and bases/sauces.  

In my opinion, he has it mastered.  Case in point, we were driving to my parents' house on Thanksgiving Eve and were planning to arrive a few hours before dinner.  My parents had discussed a couple different dinner ideas and decided at the last minute to make pizzas.  Although they weren't his fanciest or most time-consuming pizzas -- no garlic chicken pizza with a soy glaze, thinly-sliced roasted rosemary potatoes or finely ground elk meat  -- I think I now have a new favorite pizza.  

He made several pizzas with meat on them for everyone else and then made a special meatless one just for me.  My pizza was a vegetarian pizza with sauteed chopped brussel sprouts, roasted red peppers, toasted chopped hazelnuts and a light sprinkling of mozzarella cheese all on a Chardonnay butter reduction base.  Perfection.  

Best. Pizza. Ever.

[Before I continue, I should note that none of his pizza making or other cooking would be possible without my mom, his sous chef, who cleans up the mess he makes.  While she is also a phenomenal cook, she leaves the pizzas mostly up to him.  She is his partner in the kitchen and in life.]  



I should probably come clean and admit that I am obsessed with brussel sprouts.  I ate almost half of this bowl of brussel sprouts on Thanksgiving (in addition to a TON of other food) and then ate the rest of them right out of the fridge without even taking the time to heat them up.  I would eat brussel sprouts over chocolate cake.  And I really love chocolate cake.  I am just that weird.  


roasted, maple-glazed brussel sprouts

Truth be told, it is a good thing my dad didn't choose to be a pizza chef.  Until his recent retirement, he was an emergency room physician for close to 40 years.  There are thousands upon thousands of people alive and well today because of my dad.  His calming, low-stress demeanor and down-to-earth personality was no doubt extremely comforting to everyone who encountered him in the ER.  I truly couldn't be more proud of him and the profession he chose.  

All of our joking on Thanksgiving Eve about him being a pizza chef instead of a doctor, however, did get me thinking about the choices we make in our lives.  And how we often pick our professions/careers when we are so young and inexperienced in the grand scheme of life.  How many of us would go back and do something different?  And what would we choose?  A job that makes more money?  A position at a non-profit company that we are passionate about?  A career with shorter hours or in a different part of the country?  

I sometimes look at my life -- a stay-at-home-mom to my three kids -- and laugh when I remember the hours upon hours I spent studying financial derivatives in my graduate school class at a top university.  Just yesterday, I was literally scraping my youngest daughter's poop out from under my fingernails.  (Why is it that getting human poop on my hands is more disgusting than when I get my dog's poop on my hands?  And why is it that both of these things happen to me?!)  Looking at my daily life, it would be easy to say getting my MBA was a waste of time and money.

If I could go back in time, though, I am pretty sure I would do it all again.  Or at least the part where I went back to business school.  I might try to find a way to use my finance skills to do something more personally fulfilling like working for a non-profit.  Or perhaps I would try to find a career that was more conducive to having a family and relied less on a typical 9-5, Monday through Friday schedule.  And I'm still hopeful that I'll find a way to use all my skills and education when the time comes.  When the kids are a little older and I am no longer scraping human excrement out from under my nails.  That time will come, right??

Is there anything you would change about your life if you could go back and make different choices?  Would you make the same job and career choices?

***

I really was planning to write about the 10K my husband and I ran on Thanksgiving and our weekend getaway to California.  But that will have to wait for another day!  

- Kristen

12 comments:

  1. It's funny how hard it is to write those posts about races and trips sometimes. For some reason, I always struggle to get them written.

    I am not surprised that we have yet another thing in common. Cue the twilight zone music. :)

    I chose the non-profit path for a cause I am passionate about. I do sometimes ask myself if it was the right choice, but I know I have plenty of time to change things. I don't need much money to be content but it would be nice to not live paycheck to paycheck. I sometimes think about going back to school to be an OT. Sometimes, I consider getting my MPH. I also have an idea for a business that would cost next to nothing to start up! There are so many paths to take; how are we to know which one is the right one?

    I am sure you will find a way to use all of your skills and education in a way that is extremely fulfilling!

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    1. It is funny that it is hard for me to write race reports. Especially since I love reading about everyone else's races! Also ironic since I started this blog thinking I was going to write about running but instead seem to be writing about everything else.

      I really am looking forward to hearing more about your work when you are here in Portland. It sounds like you do exactly the type of work I have told my husband many times that I would be interested in doing. Honestly, the money was a deterrent when I thought about doing it when I was a couple years out of college. You'll have to share your business idea!!

      One idea I have for using my skills and education is to somehow help educate kids/teenagers or just lower class families on how to manage their money and use a budget. It doesn't seem they teach that skill to kids in school early enough (or at all) and it could help so many people manage their lives better. Even just having people understand how credit cards work and why they should never use a payday loan place to get money unless it is an absolute emergency would be helpful.

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  2. Ha! Love this. Love the relationship you seem to have with your parents. I always wanted parents like yours sound like. I know that sounds weird. We'll chat over it next time we go for a drink. You know, I think I'd do the same thing over again. I do know that I have a lot of gifts that are going unused right now. But I too , think this will come once the kids are a bit older. And you just might be a person to do some things with! ha! I still think we'd make a good team at something. Maybe when I come back from NC.

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    1. I am very lucky to have great parents who are healthy and live nearby. But I can tell your parents made you into the amazing person you are! You mom is a great artist (I've seen her paintings!) and you clearly inherited her creativity. And you also inherited your dad's passion and gift for running and his free spirit. More to say on your dad but we'll have to chat about it over our next drink. Maybe we'll both cry again. Ha! ;)

      Your gift of teaching must help you in raising your little ones, right? And, yes, we'll figure out something we can do together. Would be fun and I think we'd complement each other well. :)

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  3. Impressive pops! I envy his personality.... I so wish I had a much calmer demeanor. I'm not sure yet if I would have done something differently. Maybe teaching and coaching. I would love to work or do something part time to have more time at home. But, for the most part, minus the drive, I'm doing what I wanted to do and bottom line, my job provides a great benefit for those in times of sorrow, life insurance. It is easy to lose sight of the real purpose sometimes.

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    1. You should coach! You are such an inspiration and have a gift with words -- I think you would be a great coach and/or teacher.

      So great that you recognize the tangible benefits that your work provides to others. Doing something that helps other people can bring so much satisfaction. As much as I enjoy finance, I can't say my work every directly helped anyone.

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  4. Your family sounds really wonderful. How absolutely adorable is it that your doctor dad is also a gourmet pizza chef ;) I' a stay at home mama, too, and even though I haven't used my nutrition education professionally, I use it every single day with my family, and for that I am grateful for the choice I made. I'm not sure what I'll do when the kids are older, but I hope I'll be able to use my nutrition backround for something! I'm sure you'll find something fabulous and fulfilling to do using your education!

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    1. I never thought about how useful a degree in nutrition would be in raising a family! I'm sure you do use it every day in feeding kids and trying to keep things healthy. Not to mention it is useful for you as a runner. :) With the way our society is going (or "growing", as in so many people are overweight), a degree in nutrition will give you many possibilities when the time comes.

      I mentioned in one of my comments above that I think I'd like to use my finance degree to help kids and teens or lower income families learn how to manage their money. It would be helpful and rewarding!

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  5. Great post!! That pizza looks AMAZING by the way. If it makes you feel any better, I actually stepped in human poop in my brand new shoes over the summer when I was working at a memory care unit. It grossed me out more than stepping in dog poop! If I could do anything I wanted to do, I would probably be a barefoot running coach. For me, I can't think of anything much more rewarding because I love teaching others to run naturally and feel the ground. Not to mention the injury free part :) Being a PT is so rewarding too, and I don't think I'd change anything at all about my undergrad and grad school experience. I just feel there is so much time to grow as a person, and change is always a good thing as we are continuously evolving. Sometimes, I just want to RUN for a living!! Hehe, we can all dream.

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    1. Ha! Funny story about you stepping in human poop and it being more gross than dog poop -- at least you can relate :) Although not the same as being a barefoot running coach, I'm sure being a PT allows you to at least share your love of barefoot running with some of your patients. Do you coach anyone now? I am sure there are people who would love to learn from you!! It is great to hear so many people say they wouldn't change their past decisions. But if you ever figure out a way to RUN for a living, please share the secret with me!

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  6. I honestly think everything happens for a reason. There were definitely uncomfortable times in my life but ultimately I ended up where I'm supposed to be. So I'm not sure if I'd do a lot of things differently. Just my thoughts. Great post on a great topic!

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    1. Thanks for the comment! I agree with you that things happen for a reason. I have been through some very difficult times in my life but those hard times ultimately helped shape me into the person I am today. So for that, I am grateful!

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