Don’t wait to be Code 4 - if you want something, do it now!
April 29, 2022
Happy Friday!
I just returned from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons conference in Las Vegas. These conferences are so invigorating but can be a little hairy – I’m used to my personal space, my kitchen, my gym, my routines. So I dug in here and pulled out all of the tools and tactics from my toolbox. No refrigerator for preparing meals or snacks? Ok, time for a little pre-planning and creativity. I found a really cute breakfast spot next to the jail and had oatmeal with fruit instead of the conference’s donuts and Danishes. I hit the Walgreens on the walk back to the conference for some granola, baby carrots, and beef jerky. The gym was only open from 7am-6pm which was pretty much the hours of the lectures. So I did some yoga and cardio without weights right there in my hotel room. I stayed alcohol free! I kept in touch with my friends and, when I couldn’t text or call, I accounted for any energy snags or negativity right there in my conference notebook. I took quick breaks in my room, so that I could recharge and still show up, network, and meet all of the amazing detectives and death investigators that do such a great job out there, everyday. I was nervous before I left. I’m a recovering extrovert and people-pleaser – if I can take care of myself, connect with others, and still have a good time, you can too!
At the end of the last message, I just returned from a one-month Visiting Scientist opportunity in NYC to finish up my post-grad in DC. The NYC OCME experience was just a taste of life in the death lane, while living with my husband for the first time in almost a year. I wanted more! There were no current jobs in the anthropology unit and death investigators needed to have nursing or physician assistant degrees (which has since changed). But they were looking for someone to help run their grant-funded Forensic Sciences Training Program. The program coordinator would facilitate everything about the program, from coordinating the applicants and teachers, to booking fights, hotel rooms, and after-hours activities. The program brought death investigators from all over the country to the NYC OCME for a week of training – free. I completed my job in DC, packed up, and moved in with my husband in January. I was hired in February … and laid off by June. The program, which was attended by over 3,000 death investigators from all over the states and loved by all, was defunded after a year. I was crushed. The pay was terrible, yes, but I was living with my husband. I wasn’t investigating, true, but I was helping others learn the job. It felt so right but there was nothing I could do. In fact, getting laid off was the best thing that ever happened to me. Next week, learn how I did “the nasty” and got a job as a death investigator.
Kat
