Growing up our dinner table conversations were always interesting. Many people have memories of their favorite meals and how they were prepared, I don't have so many of those. I have memories of favorite topics and ideas. My parents both worked full time and full days for as long as I can remember, we were always in after school or after camp and I remember always wishing we didn't have to be but always understanding why we did when we'd sit down for dinner and I'd hear about their days. The topic might vary, but the goal was the same: How do we do the right thing? How do we make our state better and safer and healthier?
Between my mom and dad they spent over 70 years in public service, with a shared sense of responsibility and purpose. Together from their different perches, Mom at the Department of Labor & Licensing and Dad at the Department of Health, they tackled enormous issues that seemed impossible to change but they did often little by little and sometimes all at once (check out the page on my mom's work for a small sampling, or my dad's post on her career for more). At dinner, they'd stress test arguments, consider alternative perspectives, sharpen each other's position or discuss recent research or findings. They were constantly learning and listening and seeking new and better ways forward for more people.
In my own career, as I've gotten older, I've had the opportunity to learn over and over again what a gift it is to have a sense of purpose and to have a career that allows you to live that purpose. I'm endlessly grateful to my mom and dad for this gift and for the work that they did on behalf of so many people who will never know that they were thinking of them and imagining how to do the right thing by them, without even needing to know them.
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