Nearly all of my professional life has been focused on one goal and one goal only: To end AIDS.
Working at a lab bench trying to help develop an HIV vaccine. Engaging government officials worldwide about developing the best health policies to stop infections. Talking to community members about how to best take care of themselves and loved ones while still having fulfilling sexual experiences (pun intended). However like just about everyone else in my field, I had an active life before I ever worked for an AIDS-service organization.
After I finished school, I did not jump directly into the field of healthcare. I took all my academic biochemistry knowledge and used it to become one of the best mixologists, otherwise known as bartenders in Seattle. My main goal in life like other men in their 20’s was to have fun. Work all afternoon and early evening at a local restaurant then head out to the local gay bars for a night of dancing and husband-hunting as my friends liked to call it. I drank too much, read too little and chased gay (and occasionally straight) men like it was going out of style.
While growing up and sowing my oats, I also took a microbiology class for fun at a nearby university. Yes, I was still quite the nerd and proud of it. In my class, I developed a crush on one of the other students named Michael. Of course, I did not talk to him because I was not that bold in my early years. Until one day while driving to class, he was standing on the side of the road waiting for the bus to campus. Not missing this opportunity, I made an immediate U-Turn, pulled up to him and asked him if he wanted a ride to class. Mike was a trusting soul so he jumped in the car.
As we drove, we chatted and laughed about the insecure pre-meds who were convinced that life would end if they did not get an A+. From that day forward, I would spend countless hours with Mike who was completely unaware of my crush. Mike was just over 30 years old and had grown up in the area. We talked each night about our studies and absolutely everything else as I would come over to his place every night with my leftovers from the restaurant. After exhausting ourselves with chatter, we would watch reruns of Star Trek since he was a major Trekkie. You will do just about anything if you are crushing on someone. After a few weeks of hanging out, he walked over to his cabinet one evening while I was rambling on about nothing, opened it, grabbed a bunch of pills and swallowed them without so much as a glass of water. I was astounded, but did not say a word.