Don't look back

I am amazed at the circuitous path my life has take me to get to where I am today. My current job situation might have sidetracked me before, but today it seems to be confirming that I am on the right path but the only way I could have gotten here was to take the long and winding road.

I've since college I've worked at four commercial radio stations, two record stores, a music booking agency, a large concert promoter, a comedy club, a dot com, an art college, a large conservation organization, a cheese shop and cheese factory, and a small environmental non-profit. I'm sure I'm missing a few things and I'm not counting short-term and one-off gigs. Even I look at my resume and am astonished at how I've been able to jump fields and careers. But somehow their all linked by one thing: my overwhelming drive and desire to do something I love. I am very passionate about my work and what I contribute to the world. So it all makes sense to me.

Since mid-June, I have been helping a non-profit as an interim office manager/project administrator. After our 18 day tour of England and Wales, I was waiting to get back on the schedule at La Lechería de las Vaqueras. I was eager to share all that I had learned with my fellow cheesemonger and customers. I was only scheduled to work a day here and a day there. Then my phone rang. My friend Susan works for a local non-profit called Sustainable Conservation. She gave me a ring a few days after I got home and asked if I could help them out. Their office manager had just quit and they were in dire straits. Susan knew I was pursuing my dream. I was actually making some chevre when she called. She asked if I could step back into my old role as an operations manager and help the organization re-think the structure of this position. Well, why not? I told them that IÂ’d be happy to help on an interim basis, but I must leave by Friday, August 18^th because I have a date in Devon to make cheese. Oh, and I am also attending the American Cheese Society Conference in Portland, Oregon in mid-July, and I am still going to work at La Lechería de las Vaqueras on an as-needed basis. I gotta get my cheese fix! And can they pay me $xxxx? They agreed to everything, so I am happily assisting a dynamic group who are making strides in the business, governmental, dairy, and agricultural communities helping them find viable conservation solutions to very complex problems.

If I had found this job two years ago, I would have been thrilled, and my future would look very different, I believe. Even though the folks at Suscon all great people, and the work they a’re doing is truly inspiring, my heart isn'’t in it anymore. As they say, you can'’t go back. I a’m having too much fun moving forward. It's been great being involved in this organization and perhaps I can rope them into helping the cheese industry. Such as finding more ways to dispose of whey and make money doing it, but that'’s a conversation to be raised in the future.

Ten more days and counting....I hope this no liquids and no laptops and no books on airplanes relaxed before Aug. 20^th. If not, it's going to be the longest flight ever.