The Kid

My wonderful staff, Andrew & Jessica. aka the "kiddies"


A while back I mentioned my intentions of helping out a college student, Andrew, reach his goal of entering optometry school. To date, getting this college junior accepted will be one of my most challenging undertakings. Granted my own attempts of entering optometry school, passing optometry school, and passing my boards were all more daunting and stressful. But these were all personal.

This responsibility before me is more difficult due to the fact I do not have full control over the actions that need to be taken, and the obstacles that must be overcome are greater in scope & number. My roles are that of an advisor, a teacher, a parental figure, and in a small way a friend. And so I am here to motivate the actions I believe should be taken. Though it often takes a considerable amount of energy to even motivate myself. And I sure do appreciate parents and teachers a lot more now than I have before.

Has it been easy with Andrew up to this point? Not in the least. Between juggling the teaching lessons on the office and the field of optometry, and the admission process, my hands are full. In many ways I allowed the magnitude of my endeavor to overwhelm and drag on me. For some reason I had taken the bulk of the responsibility personally. Somehow I projected Andrew's attempts of gaining admittance into optometry school as my own. After seeing my future career slip through my hand once, I am trying to spare this good kid the same dour experience. Maybe pass failures are not always buried, even when they have been overcome.


Doing what he does best in the office, eating Flavor-Ice & sleeping

Then a month ago I had a talk with me friend, Adam, about my frustrations. As always our talks allow me a moment of perspective. Case in point: Here I was hundreds of miles away not at work on a gorgeous summer day fishing with my best friend, and I kept going on and on about my frustrations in guiding this kid. About how the sheer number of hurdles he has to overcome weighs on me. Adam was quite empathetic to my ramblings on the matter, and continues to be.

After our fishing expedition and my long drive back to Texas, I came to realize I could not keep this up. And I have attempted to become more measured in my sense of responsibility. Granted most of my experience with Andrew have not been dominated by the negative. We have accomplished a great number of things in the past few months towards his application, and he has taken all of my instructions in stride with little a complaint. Though I know he would like to do otherwise. Let's face it because I would rather be doing other things with my time as well. He is a good person.


Which eye has the contact?

And the boundaries of the boss/employee, mentor/mentee relationship has crossed over in a small measure to that of friends. And this predicament has complicated my original intent, but I hope this in fact enriches the journey. Our circle of friends here in Bryan/College Station overlaps to a good extent, due to the Club (Sam's club that is). From our golfing expeditions to the occasional group outings, Andrew and I have unknowingly embarked on an awkward process. But my positions of boss & friend will always be superseded by the task at hand. My obligation is as such to improve his prospects of admittance into optometry school. This is why the process began and it has to continue to be the fuel that drives it. My personal goal in this matter is to ration my sense of responsibility. The next few months will not be easy. But I am in total control of only one person. Everything else will be left to prayer.