Lori Lyn Price works as a biostatistician at Tufts Medical Center. She graduated with her master's degree in statistics from Ohio State
8 years ago and has an undergraduate degree in statistics from BYU.
As a biostatistician, Lori Lyn helps researchers write grants, set up databases, and analyze
and publish the results of their studies. She was
recently accepted into the Harvard Extension School MLA program and looks forward to earning her master's degree in history. Her evenings are spent studying for her history class, filling out her family tree, and cheering for her favorite college football teams.
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I entered BYU with the expectation I would marry while there and a firm determination to graduate in spite of that. I was consequently taken completely by surprise when I woke up one spring morning with no marital prospects and realized that graduation was only a few weeks away.
Even though obtaining my degree was important to me, I had planned my career to be that of a stay-at-home mom, never entertaining other plans or a career outside the home. However, with graduation looming I needed to decide what to do. Unsure if I wanted to enter graduate school or find a job, I took an internship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation that another student had just turned down to give myself time to think about this unexpected career path.
Twelve years after taking that internship, I remain single, and yet I look back at all the opportunities that have come my way -- because I am single. Working at the Cleveland Clinic, a prestigious medical research center, opened doors for me to work in practically any other medical research institution. My boss at the Cleveland Clinic offered me the flexibility to choose my own path and work at a level that was unusual for someone with my experience. I eventually did earn a master’s degree in statistics and moved to Boston to work at Tufts Medical Center.
I've also had the flexibility to travel in the U.S. and abroad, to Egypt, Israel, Portugal, Mexico and Canada; to pursue more education and and to indulge in diverse hobbies, including photography, card-making (both paper and photo cards), jewelry-making, and genealogy. Had I married while in college, there may have been neither time nor money for these pursuits.
Source: istockphoto
More recently, I decided to return to graduate school to study history. (As an undergrad, I considered double-majoring in history and statistics, but eventually opted just for statistics which turned out to be a wise choice: stats is challenging, pays reasonably well, and, most importantly, I enjoy it.) In history, I'm now 1/3 of the way through my classes and was recently accepted into a graduate program. I'm finding that my stats background allows for a unique take on history.
I'm also combining my knowledge of history and genealogy to start a lecturing business for genealogists, providing context on how historical events impacted daily life in the New England colonial era. One of my favorite lectures is a discussion-oriented presentation on colonial women who were extraordinary in some way, as well as some lesser-known women, and contrasting their life experiences with those of modern-day women.
My life is very different than I envisioned as a teenager. I thought I would be a wife and mother. It has been difficult to see all five of my younger sisters marry and have children while I remain single. And yet, as I've pursued the opportunities before me, I am discovering new dreams, and a life that is full and happy in unexpected ways.
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There are some dreams -- that we deserve -- that may go unrealized indefinitely, wanting to be married being one of them. Autumn is a good time to honor the loss we feel, to grieve.
At the same time, where there are unrealized dreams there are also unimagined opportunities, new dreams -- and happiness. What unrealized dreams have freed up the resources (time, money, energy) needed for your current dreams?
At work, I'm doing some projects that make me wonder why I didn't know about stats in high school and college. Are there courses of study that you've never even considered, in part, because girls just don't?
What did you study when you were younger that you can combine with something you presently love, bridging to your future?
Finally, Lori Lyn Price presented her lecture on colonial women at Fusion, a women's salon-style group I participate in: it was her presentation that led me to read a biography on Abigail Adams. If you live in greater Boston, you may want to invite her to speak as well. Her
website is www.bridgingthepast.com which she describes as a work-in-progress -- logo pending. Feedback, ideas, encouragement are welcome. You can visit her at her personal blog drewmeister.
What a GREAT post. I find it so enlightening to realize that, while we can be "in charge" of our destiny to some degree, we are also living our futures day-by-day. Some times I feel powerless to steer my future, and other days I feel empowered by not knowing exactly what's next for me. (Potential is BIG!) Thanks Lori Lyn~ and happy trails as you embark on your MLA journey!
Posted by: Jenny | September 07, 2009 at 09:37 PM
I too graduated from BYU single, which wasn't exactly a surprise as I loved dreaming about and accomlishing all the potential things I could do on my own. I heard Pres. Kimball say that after living in an area for a year, and doing everything you should be doing, pray and ask where you should go to meet a husband, and move there. It worked so fast I've put some of my dreams on the back burner for a while. But it was so fun to be single!!! My husband IS history and we love genealogy. We'd get along famously. Good luck in your new ventures!
Posted by: Amy Jo | September 07, 2009 at 10:26 PM
I'm so excited to hear your lecture on colonial women in Oct. I admire that you've continued to develop your interests and career path since BYU. Things may not be according to your original plan, but things rarely work out according to Plan A anyhow...what we do with all of the opportunities and forks in the road make us who we are. Thanks for sharing this lovely post, Lori Lyn....see you soon!
Posted by: Rebecca | September 08, 2009 at 12:33 PM
You have been able to dream and achieve because you have such a positive attitude. We all have different paths and many detours we never planned, but we life is great if you keep learning and growing.
Posted by: marilyn | September 08, 2009 at 08:37 PM
It's interesting to me that you had gone to college planning to become a SAH mom. I went to college thinking I'd likely never marry, or have kids ... and alas both of those things happened, and I even became a SAH mom. I do sometimes think about the career and life I might have now if a husband and children didn't put me on a different path. I guess we all wonder about the path not taken or found. There are real pros and real cons to each scenarios--kids, no career vs. career, no kids. I think the best solution, and often the hardest to achieve, is something in the middle. Thanks for sharing your story.
Posted by: Melissa | September 09, 2009 at 11:14 PM
I love the concept of "bridging to your future." I admire that you have found parts of your "past" that allow you to uniquely contribute to a completely different area, and bless and educate others in the process. Too often we think our "previous" lives have nothing to do with where we want to go, and consider our unrelated experiences a liability instead of a bonus.
Posted by: Teresa | September 10, 2009 at 10:05 PM