This morning for breakfast I had a rather hefty cup of espresso with exactly one sugar cube and two splashes of skim milk; typically it’s only one splash but I was extremely tired and my hand slipped. To accompany this brain booster, I had a fortune cookie from last week’s takeout. I’m glad I saved it instead of devouring it post egg drop soup. I always knew these crisp, golden treats had an eerie way of predicting the future (after all, they are fortune cookies) but this morning made me a true believer.
It read: “You are soon going to change your present line of work”
This got me thinking about how true this statement really is. In exactly two weeks I’ll be leaving my job as a LensCrafters technician and I’ll be starting my transition into becoming an ICO optometrist. Soon, I’ll be stepping onto campus and calling the RC my home. In between sips of coffee I let that sink in.
Although I’ll still be in the eye care profession, I consider my line of work to be changing drastically. I am going to become someone that others look up to. I am going to have the power to help people, maybe even change their lives. Wow, what a cool thing to think about. I hear from students and faculty that the ICO process gives you a complete mind, body, and spirit makeover to shape you into a successful optometrist… kind of like what a fortune cookie must go through in the manufacturing process, right?
Please enjoy the following cheesy analogy:
Per YouTube, fortune cookies start out as a bag of sugar, flour, and other extraneous ingredients that are thrown into a huge vat for mixing. I’d like to think that I have all the necessary “ingredients” to become an optometrist, and the ICO curriculum is the mixing vessel that is prepping me to become a professional clinician. As first year progresses, I imagine as students we will become more robust versions of ourselves and will be ready for the next step: the oven. Or, if you prefer, we can call this second year. Here, we will come out steaming hot from first year and be ready to take form as a more experienced student. We are no longer a one dimensional hotcake, but we have some grooves and indentations and are eager to be folded into a pretty little cookie… errr, I mean optometrist.
During the fortune cookie manufacturing process, one batch of cookies can have as many as 5,000 different fortunes in their lot. I think as ICO students we will be no different; I anticipate our education here to encourage our diversity and embrace our range of purposes for wanting to pursue an education in optometry. Once ICO helps fold and mold us into the right shape, we will be neatly packaged, boxed up, and shipped out, excited to become someone else’s morning espresso accompaniment. Or, if you want to be all technical about it, excited to make an impression on someone else’s life.
I’d be lying if I said this little cookie today didn’t cause me to think about my future and consider the metamorphosis I’ll soon undergo. I’m feeling pretty fortunate to be where I’m at in life. Hey, maybe I should take my lucky numbers and go play the lottery 😉