Shelllady: Happy Birthday Jess!

Friday, June 13, 2014

Happy Birthday Jess!

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. ~Larry Lorenzoni

Who says Friday the 13th isn't lucky? Twenty Eight years ago, on a Friday the 13th, at 8:08 pm, my life changed forever! My 6 lb 2 oz baby girl and best friend Jessica was born! Two days later on Sunday the 15th was Father's Day, just like this year.

Here I am 28 years later looking back at what a wonderful time it has been since that lucky Friday the 13th. Where did the time go? I really cannot believe it has been 28 years....though so much has happened. Through it all, from that very first Friday the 13th we have been inseparable. Now there are nearly 300 miles between us, but we are always in contact and remain inseparable.

Jess decided at a very early age, I think about 5 years old, that she wanted to be a veterinarian. All little girls love animals so I just assumed it would change as she grew up, but it didn't! Early on she wanted to work with aquatic animals, she got her dive certification for her 14th birthday, and we even went down to Florida on a trip and swam with the manatees, I didn't think I would ever get her out of the water! :D
She volunteered at our local living museum during one summer and talked our local small town Vet clinic into allowing her to volunteer at the age of 15, they hired her as soon as she turned 16. Her journey had begun. She had many jobs, but they all centered around animals. We toured vet schools first, during her sophomore and junior years of high school, then colleges...She applied and was accepted at Virginia Tech where she also worked at the sheep barn, and the summer before she graduated, on a Dairy farm.

I was the one who gave her away when she got married to her High School Sweetheart that summer. Her new husband Brad moved up to Christiansburg and began teaching History at Blacksburg High School that next September and was Teacher of the Year there this year!

She then was accepted to Virginia Tech's Vet School where she decided to study a mixed curriculum, large and small animals....Jess loved her some pigs, sheep and cows!!

She even traveled to India to work with elephants, goats, Water Buffalo as well as the cats and dogs there.

Interned on a horse farm in Leesburg....

....Interned on an Indian reservation in Arizona in a clinic that she, one of her professors and other students brought all supplies to operate in order to help reduce an outbreak of Rocky Mountain spotted fever!

...and even worked with Alpaca in Northern Virginia!

....and went on a 7 week school trip to Greece during undergrad!

She graduated as a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) over a year ago and currently works as a Veterinarian in Roanoke, VA where she absolutely loves what she does! How many of us are so focused and determined at 5 years old that we maintain the path to our dreams? That's my Jess!

I frequently get a call from her on her way home from work with stories about what has happened that day, she is usually so excited! Through all of that we remain as close as that Friday the 13th she was born, I am so blessed. My heart just explodes with Love and Pride of the person...and DOCTOR she has become!