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Early one morning I looked out of my window and saw a beautiful day.
Too nice to be inside – I grabbed my camera and my coffee and went out to capture some photos. Within the hour, I was sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial watching our nation wake up.

As I looked out over the reflecting pool, I noticed a young man running along the gravel path that was alongside it. He was running at a really fast clip and seemed to have a destination to his route.

Sure enough, up the steps he ran until he was standing almost in front of me. He seemed to be looking for something. It was almost simultaneously that we both realized that I was sitting right above where he was meant to be – the step with the engraved destination (above).

I watched as he stood looking out over the National Mall with an abundance of energy that was palpable. After a few minutes (which seemed like an hour because of the intensity of his concentration and visualization), he took off running back down the steps and along the path from which he had come.
There was no doubt in my mind that whatever this young man wanted to achieve, he would be able to accomplish his goals based on his speed, determination and vision.

Definitely not an “I kind of have an idea” type of guy.
This experience brought me back to a time in college when I was in the spring semester of my senior year. I was taking a class in Perception and Psychophysics that was not an easy course for me. Additionally, as my professor had written our textbook, comprehensive knowledge of the material was crucial.

I decided to camp out in the corner of the library that overlooked the stage where graduation was to be held. Whenever I struggled through a chapter or needed to study for an exam, I would start by looking out of the window to visualize myself graduating. Sure enough, I passed the course easily, obtained my degree and went on the graduate school.

Wayne Gretzky once said “skate to where the puck will be”. You’d be amazed at what can happen when you apply his wisdom to your life.

I’ve found this is true not only with individual goals but with life experiences as well. We decide what the important lessons will be from the experiences we have and how they will shape our lives. And we can use these lessons to propel us forward – to skate to where the puck will be.

Are their limits to your potential?
How have your experiences shaped who you are?
Where do you want the puck to be?

When I was a young girl growing up in Newport, RI, a perfect summer day would consist of spending the morning at the beach and sailing in the afternoon. Initially, I was a little tentative with force of the wind and the waves during the gusty afternoons (similar to the picture above).

But as I learned to hike out over the water to stabilize the boat and kept a watchful eye on the point of sail, eventually the lessons of wind, waves, currents, and tides created a strong foundation for my life. I learned that navigating any challenge was a lot like navigating Narragansett Bay during an afternoon sail.

I learned there is an ebb and flow of life; and that for every close-hauled, upwind sail when the waves would come over the bow of the boat and spray salt water on our faces, there was a downwind sail that would have the warm sun on our backs as we navigated towards home and the safety of the harbor.

From my years of sailing, and then racing one-design sailboats and offshore yachts, I learned a lot about navigation, teamwork, wind, and points of sail and subsequently became a highly skilled navigator and tactician.

Today, I’m still in love with navigation and teamwork. My skills and passion from sailing, combined with my comprehensive education and experience, have transcended into an amazing career in healthcare. Having the ability to serve patients and families with navigating fast-paced, healthcare environments and the difficult conversations related to illnesses, new diagnoses and the provision of care has been an honor. For the clinical teams I’ve coached, trained and debriefed, I’ve learned that navigation involves the delicate art of transitioning from one patient to another and then another while maintaining the compassionate composure and tact necessary in any healthcare environment without ever knowing what the day will bring.

Life can change in an instant.

I’m in graduate school, on my way to the library on a cold Sunday afternoon. The roads are wet, it was snowing and I was driving up a hill in my Mazda LX.

I do not have my seat belt on; they’re for other people.

Not me – I’m strong.

The car coming toward me is in a skid. It’s a large station wagon with wood paneling. I see the tires locked to the side. If they grip the road, the station wagon will go into the lane she (an older woman) is supposed to be in.

The tires never grip the road, and her car hits mine head on. I watch the front of my car fold up like an accordion as I think “wow, this is not going to be good”. As I fall back into the seat, I see the cracked windshield where my head hit. There is blood and broken glass. I fall back and to the side – slumped over the gear shift.

Somehow the door is open and there is a teenager with a red gang bandana looking at me (I am not in a good part of town). “Please get help” I tell him – softly – thinking he probably can’t hear me. I feel like I’m going to throw up. He tells me the other car left. He said “She said she had to go home and get her license”.  He said she “looked drunk”.  She never came back.

The ambulance came and brought me to the ER. It was crowded, I heard there were a lot of accidents that day. I was on a gurney in the hallway. They “would get to me” they said, it “was busy”.

There’s something about lying on your back on a gurney in a busy emergency room on a cold snowy day that gives you all the time in the world to think – especially if you’re tired of trying to count all the dots in the white ceiling tiles above your head.

A lot of time to think about how good seat belts really are, how invincible you really aren’t and how small foreign cars are fun to drive but maybe next time you should look a little more closely at the safety ratings.

The ER team called my college roommate who came to pick me up when I was cleared medically. I had a concussion, a torn MCL (I still sit a little too close to the steering wheel, but I always wear a seat belt), and bruises on my face and head. It “would take a while” for some of the glass to fall out of my head they told me – “just give it time”.

When I got back to our apartment, I called my parents. Initially they said they would call back tomorrow after they thought about what to do. Fifteen minutes later, my mom called back and said “we’ll be there tomorrow, pack enough for a week, we’ll make an appointment with the orthopedist here.”

The following day they arrived in the morning and mom said “we have to go pick up your X-rays at the hospital but dad wants to see your car first”.

We drove to the lot where they had towed my car. My dad opened the door and said to me “you should stay here” and then to my mom “do you want to come?”

“No, not especially” she answered “i’ll stay here”.

After about twenty minutes, dad came back to the car. His face was pale, he looked at my mom, there were tears in his eyes. “We almost lost her” he said, looking at me. – That feeling of invincibility I once had left on that day, right at that moment.

The next few days evolved into months as surgery to repair my torn MCL was scheduled with enough time for rehab.

My graduate school advisor informed me that I would lose my thesis committee as a result of the 3 month delay. She convinced me to take the comprehensive exam to test out for an M.Ed and finish graduate school.

The car was totaled; no more Mazdas – ever.

It was thousands of dollars of unexpected costs, time I couldn’t get back and the loss of a thesis I had hoped to finish and publish.

“Every once in awhile life gets in the way.” My professor used to say. His comment rings true to this day.

Slow down, turn off the phone, buckle up – Life can change in an instant.