At the time our son finished his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry at Southern Arkansas University, he toyed with the idea taking the entrance exam for medical school – just to see how he would do. I said I would pay for it, but he told me he really did not like the ‘things doctors have to do.’ He found a lab job at the DNA research lab in St. Louis and married Joy, a college freshman.
But all those years of biology and chemistry cried for something more. Without saying anything to the rest of the family, they budgeted the cost for him to take the pharmaceutical entrance exam.
During our Thanksgiving visit five years ago, the mailman delivered his test results. He hit the roof with glee. He had scored in the top three percent! Everyone congratulated him and told him “good job!!” I handed him a check for application fees, “Now start applying to pharmacy schools.”
He entered St. Louis College of Pharmacy, his wife continued her studies towards a master’s degree in community counseling. They both worked part-time and put plans for a family on hold.
The first year of pharmacy school was hard, the second was harder. His studies remained a challenge right up to the last paper he had to write the last week before graduation. While he stayed up late poring over books and worked weekends as a pharmaceutical tech, his wife got They stored their one small television – on a shelf in the basement – away from their stacks of homework.
His last year he rotated through a variety of pharmaceutical experiences. Miles away, we only heard about his unforgetable rotation as pharmacist in a hospital. Just watching one sad ending in the ER underscored his original decision against medicine. We didn’t hear about it immediately, but she did and helped him sort it out sufficiently to move onto the next rotation.
She finished her bachelor’s degree. She finished her master’s degree and they welcomed – after six and a half years of marriage and schooling – their first child.
He took a few days off to welcome his daughter and take her home – then he had to run to catch-up with his studies – there is no paternity leave from pharmacy college. With graduation day was a mere 100 days away, playing with the baby, helping his wife adjust to parenthood took second place.
She spent her first three months feeling like a single mom, but knew it was the only option to insure he finished this spring.
She went back to work pouring coffee – arranging her hours to fit when he could stay with the baby.
Finally, it was all over. He acknowledged that, but refused to get excited about graduation – he still had hours of studying for the state licensing exam.
At graduation, he surprised his wife by having his name announced as “Nathaniel Paul Hershberger, father of Sophia.” We all observed their victory, enjoyed the baby’s cherubic smile and thatch of hair that refuses to be combed neatly into place and took lots of pictures of the baby, the graduate and the wife who made it all possible.
Graduation over and company gone, the whole family went to the pediatrician for the baby’s first shots. Sure, the state licensing exam await, but thanks to the support of our daughter-in-love, we attended another graduation, smiled proudly and celebrated their accomplishment with them.