9/11 & A Different Track

Did you know that I went to college with plans to be a lawyer?

I was the daughter of a dairy farmer dreamer, but in my teens I became determined to pursue a more traditional career path. I applied to all the schools, with plans to pursue the academically rigorous pre-law track. I ended up choosing the university named after a Supreme Court Justice, Louis D. Brandeis, the namesake of Brandeis University.

My undergrad days were spent in classes and in the library with Aristotle, Plato and our Founding Fathers. Every summer and holiday break I interned in the law offices of Bowditch & Dewey, LLP. My Senior Year began with an internship at the Attorney General’s Office in Boston.

On September 11, 2001 I was evacuated from the government building, and returned to university and a senior year with my campus family together in mourning. On this morning of 9/11, 20+ years ago, the pre-law track went off the rails. This tragedy and impact on our world, at this inflection point in my young adult life made me question the track that I was on.

Who was I? What was I doing? Where was I was going? Why was I doing it?

The laid out academic and career track became a winding journey in the wilderness, beginning with heartache, and along the way years of curiosity, love, risk, opportunity, innovation and a whole lot of dreaming.

The track became the unknown path that we as Birds & Bears journey through as we brave the wilderness and discover who we are, why we need others, and together where we are going.

Here on 9/11 we honor and remember those who were lost in the wilderness. They will forever remind us to be brave, love better, and to journey onward, even in the darkness.

Remembering with you Birds & Bears, and never forgetting too.