This month's LabSpaces theme is "What would I be doing if I weren't doing this?", and boy, did I have some interesting alternatives.You see - in high school, I was involved in just about everything - International Baccalaureate program, Health Occupations Students of America, student council, Beta Club and NHS, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, women's choir, theatre, piano, and dance/drill team officer. Although completely overwhelming at times, this multi-dimensional involvement was wonderful, and it kept my interests peaked into way more than science. As you may have noticed from the list, I had a severe bent towards the performing arts, especially dancing. This passion started at a young age, and I still have a bit of the melodrama bug in me. So the first alternate career I'll introduce is...

(drumroll please)

Broadway Performer!** Yup, that's right. Dr. O once gave some serious thought to heading off in a completely different direction after high school. The likely path untaken - skip university, a microbiology degree, grad school, and instead try out for the world-famous Kilgore Rangerettes (would've been the world-famous Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, but, alas, I'm not nearly tall enough for their height requirement). After completing junior college in Kilgore, TX, I'd have headed off to NYC to pursue the thrilling, heartbreaking, broke-ass life of a Broadway performer/choreographer, all in the hopes of being one of the rare few who achieve fame and fortune (hmmm...maybe not all that different from what I'm doing now; I must be a glutton for punishment.) Speaking of punishing careers, you may be asking yourself: have I ever considered a more, ummm, stable career track? Why, yes, I have. How about...

High school science teacher. Not nearly as glamorous as Broadway Performer or TT Professor, but I know I'd love it just the same. In fact, I spent my first couple of years in graduate school planning to teach high school biology, until the research bug took over my life. These days, teaching high school remains a very viable back up plan, just in case the TT job search completely goes to shit. I imagine myself in the classroom for a few years while my kid(s) are young, then heading back to graduate school for a masters in education administration. From there, I'd like to make the leap into science education curriculum design, and maybe even participate in some outreach programs for young women.

So there you have it...the path untaken, and a still-possible detour to happiness. There are, after all, many roads to Rome.

**It occurred to me while writing this post: as interesting as science has become with a baby belly, I canNOT imagine myself doing secondes, leaps, or an arabesque right now.