Edit — Just so you know, I have nothing against Lawyers and Doctors… Its just that they make me want to tear my hair out  sometimes…. Its nothing personal.. LOL

Quite frankly if it were possible to be ‘cursed’ with doctors and Lawyers – I think I would have that curse….

My mum is a closet doctor – maybe the disappointment of missing out on medical school made her over compensate – but all my young life I was innudated by quasi-medical books – Look Younger, Live Longer, Where there is no Doctor, Every Woman, and a slew of health books by the Seventh Day Adventists; plus all the newspaper cuttings – how smiling adds a year to your life, hyper vitaminosis, drink your way to health and all that ish..

I was primed to read Medicine – no thanks to the pervasive influence of that cringe worthy CBS serial Another Life – watched in greyscale on the push and start National Panasonic Television we had for the better part of 20 years. Thankfully, my Biology teacher, in a rush of hormones, over reacted to a childish prank and ripped whatever fledglinng love I had for Biology from my heart forever. Good thing she did too – my life strategy never fit into the medical school ethic – my mantra has always being to find the most efficient method, the minimum effort required to meet the stated objectives – and then read the irrelevant!

Both my sisters weren’t so lucky! T – topped her class, failed no exams and eventually married a Doctor too.. Little sister M – just got inducted – and picked up from where T left off. Unsolicited diagnoses – early onset ME when I play tiredness as an excuse to end the phone call, requiring an electrocardiogram when I complain of minor palpitations, juvenile athritis when I complain of sore joints, I’m sure you get the drift. Two cousins also went through Med School!

Even friends got into the act – E got a stethoscope as his 11th birthday gift! O is Paediatrics Registrar at my sister’s hospital. Even my Naija Pastor is a doctor.. My non-existent love life is not much better – two of three conundrums are Meds! Thankfully Miss Safety is an investment banker — quite a breath of fresh air!

Oh and the lawyers! Boy oh boy! Miss T – Corporate Lawyer in PH, FB crush – Corporate Lawyer in Edinburgh, Miss Funky – just out of Law School… Mi – two years out of Law School… And when my Mum decides to grab a second degree — you bet — she had to get a Law degree! I never cease to be amazed at how ‘blessed’ I am to have all these people around me especially as I a underserving of them all!

Quite frankly, the next time I meet someone, or get introduced – after I get the name the next question will be “Surely you’re not a lawyer – or a doctor for that matter”. Else I shall not even bother collecting a phone number!