How being present now can help you be a better responder
Hey, thanks so much for the encouragement y’all! If there is one thing I’m still learning after 40years of life, it is to be PRESENT in the moment. It’s funny though; while no one is an expert in this exact moment (no one has had this conversation, no one else has my viewpoint, no one can know how I’m feeling exactly), my feelings and thoughts are not unique to me. Many people feel nervous, shy, brave, over-responsible, lonely, bored, anxious, satisfied. What makes those feelings MINE are my past experiences and how they tint the future. When I stay in the present moment, there is less time to draw on the past or prepare for the unknown future. When we stay present, we can accept what IS and not what regret or fear might come be. Presence is a true gift.
In 2009 I finally got some full time, real work experience under me. I worked for The Man. I drove a state vehicle and submitted reports in a timely manner. I did the 40hours, earned the 401k, and taken some vacation leave. I started wondering what else there might be out there for me. My grad school friends had spread around – some to the medical examiner, one to an organ and tissue procurement facility, another to the FBI. Others would go on to PhDs or leave the field of forensics forever. For me, I wanted to test out the opposite side of the coin. It was time to go behind the scenes. I applied for and received a postgraduate fellowship with the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education (ORISE) as a Casualty Analyst in the WWII Directorate of the Department of Defense POW and Missing Personnel Office (DPMO).
The assignment was for one-year back in Washington DC! I was thrilled. At this point in my life, I was starting to think a little farther into the future. My boyfriend finally proposed but was still finishing his graduate degrees at Texas State. Still, I gave the Austin PD my two weeks notice, packed up my dog and headed home. I would be living with my parents (again!) and commuting into the city (again!). We married in the summer and went back to our separate lives in different states. He was in the process of deciding between a PhD at Columbia University in New York City or at George Washington in DC. While this time away him was rough, the job was unbelievably interesting and fulfilling. I think this is when the rift between my personal and professional life really grew. I spent my days researching the last known circumstances of servicemen and women missing or killed during World War II. I prepared detailed reports, re-creating the events leading up to their loss. I gave presentations to families around the country who still, after 70years, still missed and loved their soldiers. I played an integral role in the resolution of one of the cases. Read the story here. Because of my background in human osteology, I recognized inconsistencies in dental charting between the missing and unknown soldier mistakenly excluded from being his match. I presented this information to the head Forensic Anthropologist of the Joint POW/Missing Accounting Command (JPAC). Looking back, I can’t believe the cajones it took for me to do this – but he took my brief and, eventually, the unknown soldier was exhumed and positively identified. The risk paid off for me, professionally, too – I was recommended for a coveted spot as Visiting Scientist in the Anthropology Unit of the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. The ORISE fellowship would continue to pay my salary and allow me a month off to study, learn, and live the life of a forensic anthropologist in an urban medical examiners’ office. And guess where my husband chose to attend for his doctoral degree – Columbia in NYC!
More on the synchronicity of the world next time…
Kat
