It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you . . . .

One of the most formative experiences in my adult life was serving with Mercy Ships from September 2009 to March 2010. I had been struggling for a couple of years to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. My parents allowed me to move back home after college, so like a good millennial, I lived in their basement and worked at Starbucks. I was blessed to have the opportunity to make use of the services of a life coach, thanks to my amazing parents, and he helped me to realize that I wanted to pursue occupational therapy as a profession. So I applied to graduate school and waited. Finally, the answer came: waitlisted. And I never got off the waitlist that year. I had mentioned wanting to work with Mercy Ships as an occupational therapist in my admissions essay, so I decided to apply to Mercy Ships immediately for whatever they needed me to do. That answer came back much more quickly and positively. Within a month of applying, I was on board the ship working in the ship shop, coffee shop, and snack bar. I applied again to OT school from the ship, and the week before I was to return home, I got the acceptance letter. It has always been my dream to return.

For the past 5 years I have been doing travel occupational therapy, in part to travel the country, in part to have flexibility to travel abroad for missions trips or for fun, but mostly because I applied for Mercy Ships and I figured I would be more likely to be able to go if I did not have a permanent job. Travel therapy has allowed me to work in a variety of places I would never have thought to work otherwise, meet incredible people, and participate in missions trips and other adventures. Mercy Ships kept my name in the talent pool, but then 2020 happened. Ship operations were significantly scaled back, and there was no need for a rehab team with no patients to treat. Finally this year they have opened things back up, carefully, to the joy of all involved. I was working in Alaska when I got the email offering me a time slot to serve. This time it was six months of waiting before I got to be back on the ship. But it was worth it.

Things are very different this time around. Different job, different people, and very different ship environment due to the measures taken to protect the crew and the Senegalese people we are serving from any disease risk. But it is still wonderful, and I am feeling so incredibly blessed to get to live out a dream that I’ve had for 12 years. I have been here just two weeks, and the adventure is only just getting started.