The only constant is change.

So, I meant to start this blog when I started pharmacy school--to post hilariously about what it's like to be in the classroom with a bunch of 20-year-olds when you're 40. Those thoughts were hilarious, but I didn't have time to post them since I was keeping up with the baby, the dogs, the husband and the studying.

Then I was going to start it when I got sick and had to take off a year. That would have been a a bunch of navel-gazing about fear and death. Everyone has enough of that in their own heads, who needs mine added to the mix?

Lately, I thought I'd start a blog when got a job, all about being a working mom in her new career. But, of course, it's my life, and, like yours, it's not that easy. I have to pass the Naplex to get licensed to get a job. And my husband just got a job in Baltimore. So I'll be coordinating a move to the East Coast from Arizona. And trying to figure out when to take the Naplex. Oh, and trying to figure out where to move my mother. (She's 65, has MS and I don't like her. And, no, I'm not telling her I have a blog.) And, let's not forget I have to get that little boy into a good school. And find a house we can all agree on. And lose 50 pounds.

So, my name is Julia. I'll be your guide if you're interested in my thoughts about changing careers, dealing with an aging parent, keeping my marriage going, whether to keep the marriage going, living with chronic illness, making sure my six year old doesn't turn out to be a serial killer, getting a job with my new skill set, and whatever else comes up along the way.

This is my backstory: In my previous career, I was a writer and an editor, so I like to think I know how to communicate. I worked at newspapers, edited and wrote newsletters, blah, blah, blah. I took the Meyers-Briggs personality test that indicated pharmacy might be a fit. My husband was the only person who believed it was possible. (My mother just laughed.) Since I am the kid who was kicked out of high school chemistry, it did seem like a long-shot. It's funny what you can accomplish when you're not worried about your drunk dad sneaking into your bedroom and co-dependent mom making your life a living hell. I was able to get through the pre-reqs for pharmacy school, get into pharmacy school, and do well in pharmacy school.

Until disaster struck. In 2007, I got a cold and I didn't get better. I went to campus health, but the doc said it was asthma. Nevermind that I'd never been diagnosed with asthma before. Finally, when I ended up in the ER, I learned that I had heart failure. Most likely, the virus that gave me the cold went to my heart. And most people get better in six months, but I didn't. So I have a pacemaker and a great big old heart. My ejection fraction is 40 percent (normal is 50 to 60) so I don't think I'll drop dead anytime soon. My husband didn't handle my illness very well, which is a major problem in our marriage. I'm willing to work on it, but I have a lot of forgiving to do and you may have already noted that I'm not very good at that.

Before you think I'm a total Debbie Downer I have nothing but good things to say about my son. He's my greatest accomplishment. And I'm very fond of my dogs. But not today because one of them knocked over the garbage can in the kitchen.

Hm. I guess that sums it up. Let's see what changes.