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I went to grad school
right after MHC. That was easier than finding a job, since I
knew how to be a student, but wasn’t so sure about this
job-thing. I wanted to be a famous scientist. But not too
far into the process, I realized that that, in essence,
meant being a student for the rest of my life, and writing a
lot of grant proposals – which was NOT what I wanted.
And so, I went to NYC,
where I worked at Herald Square, as the curtain buyer for
Macy*s, and then started designing computer programs for
them. I was part of the team that designed and put into
place the first bar-coded tags on retail merchandise,
supplanting print-punch tickets. During this time, I
married Joe Antin, my high school prom date. We had been
dating, albeit on and off, for 7 years, we had run out of
new things to do, and he liked my cooking! In 1978, we
moved to Boston. This was to be for the 3 years of Joe’s
internship and residency. We’re still in Boston,
I continued to design
computer programs in retail settings in Boston until our
second child, Liz, was born in 1984. I was then fortunate
to be able to stay home with Liz and Charles, who is 4 years
her senior. Stay at home, did I say? Ha! We went places, we
did things, I volunteered up the whazoo.
I went back to work
about 15 years ago. Through a serious of serendipitous
events, I came to my current job, working at Dana Farber
Cancer Institute. I work finding unrelated donors for people
who are having stem cell transplants and who do not have a
suitable match within their own family. It is challenging,
sometimes stressful, frequently last-minute, always busy,
and I enjoy it. A small part of my job involves hand
carrying stem cells from wherever they are harvested back to
the patient in Boston, which has lead to some wild and crazy
trips. Not infrequently, I fly to Europe in the afternoon,
arrive in the morning, and am back on a plane by noon that
day.
I went back to school at
50 for a graduate degree in statistics; I should have been a
math major in the first place! But this time, it was more
about the journey than the destination. I had a ball! And
was frequently singled out as being the best student – not
because I was such a math whiz – I wasn’t – but because I
could WRITE, so much better than the hot-shot young mathies
who were my classmates. Thank you, MHC!
Joe and I are still
together and totally enjoying this empty nest, together.
It’s been a blast watching our relationship all these years!
He says we are getting younger and younger. We started
building wooden boats together 10 years ago, and have 4
kayaks, a single shell that I row, and a 15 foot mahogany
run-about in our fleet so far. We ride a tandem bike 50+
miles most every weekend (Joe says he likes knowing where I
am on the bike) and take our kayaks into ocean, lakes,
rivers.
I like where I am, and
who I am here with. I am grateful for my many friends,
friends I have had for years, friends who are new. You
support me, you encourage me, you sustain me.
I’ve learned how to do
lots of things over the past 35 years – SCUBA dive, snow ski
(don’t do that any more!), water ski, bake bread, build
wooden boats, construct elaborate gingerbread houses,
culminating in Notre Dame ,complete with flying buttresses
and stained glass, quilt, row and kayak, sail. I’ve
traveled to Asia and Africa and South and North America and
Europe.
But where am I now? And
how did I get here? I am here.
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