Reflections

Ten years ago—give or take, because honestly it feels like a hundred—I was staring at this training permit for EMS that just popped up in my memories. Wild, right? Time is so slippery. I remember trying to cram in all my hours so I could actually sit for my EMT license. You only have so long to get your runs in, all your patient contacts logged, all the bureaucratic stuff checked off. It’s a whole thing.

But here’s what gets me. I was missing, like, one hour. One single call. It always comes down to that last little piece you need, doesn’t it? So there I am, hustling to meet Med 5 at a call in Flambeau—yep, that tiny Wisconsin town, 54538, look it up if you don’t believe me. We didn’t have a full Flambeau EMS crew that day so I just… showed up. Ran to the call. That’s how it goes sometimes. You just show up because you want it bad enough.

The call was a woman with breathing problems, possible cardiac stuff. I did my thing. I was green, nervous, over-caffeinated, trying to remember everything I’d learned and not look like a total idiot. And here’s the kicker: that woman turned out to be the mother of my now-husband. I didn’t know him back then. Vaguely knew the last name, maybe, but that’s it. Isn’t that just the universe, though? Throwing you a breadcrumb that you don’t even recognize until years later.

Today, I’m celebrating my one-year wedding anniversary. Seven years together, one year married. And it’s blowing my mind how much of my life now can be traced back to that moment, that call, that piece of paper. The team I trained with—some of the best people I’ve ever known. That shot I took on myself, the decision to go back to school, to try something new when nothing felt certain. All of it led me right here.

Leaving my clinical job in January was terrifying. I was sick with fear. But I kept coming back to this: I’m good at what I do. I love what I do. I’ve built this toolkit from every strange twist and turn, every job, every class, every weird little life detour. I get to use all of it now. I get to help people, create things, grow, build, dream, and honestly—live a life I never even thought to hope for.

Call it karma, call it luck, call it divine energy or just plain stubbornness. All I know is, the best thing I’ve ever learned is to just keep making the next right choice for myself. It doesn’t have to be the perfect choice. Just the next right one. And then the next. And the next. It adds up.

So if you’re reading this and you’re stuck, or scared, or just… tired: keep making the next right choice for yourself. That’s it. That’s the trick. Every decision is a pivot. Every moment is a breadcrumb. Ten years from now, you’ll look back and see the pattern. And you’ll be blown away by how far you’ve come.

Progress is progress. Always.