Trying on my old career

Once upon a time I studied at university for four years. At the end I graduated as an Occupational Therapist (OT) and went on to work for a few years in my profession. After a couple of years I got married and headed with my husband down the path of mission and having babies. Both of these took over my world and OT got pushed to the rear crevices of my brain (except while raising my kids - it might be just a fluke that all my kids are good at cutting, colouring, writing etc.). Today, almost ten years after I gave up my OT registration I headed back to what felt like uni. I sat in a workshop with one of my former lecturers teaching us about OT intervention with kids with coordination difficulties. I was scared. Yesterday I started to feel uncomfortable and this morning I woke an hour early (nearly unheard of). This was worse than going to a class reunion. Not only did I fear seeing people I'd trained with, I felt like I'd be pretending to be an OT. How easily could I stuff up? Well I made it through, without any major embarrassments. It even inspired me, brought back some of that old passion, if you like. I didn't anticipate not knowing some of the lingo, though. Abbreviations like DCD, COPM, PACS etc would stump me. Other words like scaffolding, daily log and four quadrant model induced puzzlement. New terms have dared to enter the field while my back was bent over Japanese textbooks. Now I have my challenge all laid out before me. How to achieve my goal? More reading and aquisition of resources. I hope to be able to offer a small service to the younger expat. kids attending the school where my husband works in Tokyo. We'll see if I manage it. It was all so much easier when I was a new grad. I could put all my energy into one task - being an OT. Now I have numerous important things to attend to. Being a mum, a wife, a missionary on home assignment, an aspiring writer and editorial assistant...and now an OT too. Getting a balance is not easy!