Interviewed by Marie (really long, non-wedding post)

Marie was interviewed by Bridechka. And she offered to interview someone ... so I took her up on the offer!

1. For all those just about to be married, can you describe how you felt the night before the wedding?

The night before the wedding, I was so excited. I was a little nervous, perhaps curious, to find out what would go wrong. (I mean, something goes wrong for everyone, right?) So I was curious about that. I was mostly excited.

Now, an hour before the wedding – that was different. I can’t remember when I got nervous exactly. I think it was either just before or just after I’d gotten in my mom’s van to go to my parent’s house for family photos. It was at that point that I got nervous. I don’t know why. I think I just wanted to make sure I was at the church. When I did arrive at the church, I calmed slightly, and switched from nerves to ecstatic when I started walking down the aisle.

I don’t think my response is normal. Many friends have told me they were nervous. A coworker said she was scared for weeks beforehand at the thought of having to stand in front of people. That didn’t faze me in the least! Being in front of people does not bother me! But blogger Carly, who was also nervous about her wedding day, has said that everyone is looking at you with happiness and love. So if you’re nervous, remember that you invited people who you want to witness you say your vows.

2. Why did you chose to become involved in health and safety? Was it anything specific or did it just happen?

A little of both. I became interested in health & safety (H&S) when I held a summer job at DuPont. DuPont is a famous industry-leader in H&S. The training program for a 4 month contract was the same as for anyone else: 4 weeks duration. They consider the training worth it, because a huge focus on the training is on doing the job safely. I had that summer job for five summers, although for the last two summers I actually worked for Invista (Invista was a spin-off of DuPont that was sold to Koch Industries).

I realized H&S could be a career when I was looking at post-graduate options after finishing my undergrad degrees. The University of Toronto offers a degree in occupation health. It sounded interesting - the study of workplace hazards - noise, ergonomics, radiation, H&S management, and so on. So I applied. And I got accepted. And I do find it interesting. I actually find myself passionate about occupational H&S.

3. How did you and Wade meet? Sorry if you've already told us but I can't remember!

I don’t think that I did. During my second summer working at DuPont, I joined the work baseball league. I played on a different team than Wade, but many of our teammates knew each other. After one game playing each other, many of our teammates went back to their regular post-game bar and hung out. I got to know Wade, and his friends Mike and Kelly. I ran into Kelly another time, and we started hanging out. Since Kelly and Wade were friends, I saw Wade now and then. And that’s how we met.

I have to say, I thought Wade was weird at first. It turns out, he was trying to hard, and it creeped me out. But as he relaxed I was able to get to know him.

4. Why did you and Wade decide to get married in a church?

We thought about a few spots. I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of getting married outdoors. Don’t get me wrong – I think the most beautiful weddings are outdoors. But I would be a basket case worrying about if the weather cooperated or not. So in a church seemed the next step.

I thought about the church I went to as a teenager. It’s on the water. It has stain-glass windows on the side facing the street, and clear windows overlooking the water. It’s stunning, but especially so in the morning at the sunrise services (which are only offered once a year, and I only attended a few times). Our reception venue is also on the water, so I thought it would be neat to have the church on the water, too. But the reception is in the east end, and the church is in the west end – probably about a 25-30 minute drive between them.

I also looked into the chapel on our university campus, which is much closer to our reception venue. We went to the same university, but a few years apart. But the chapel only holds 70, and our guest list was 100. In retrospect, we could have had a smaller service, but that wasn’t an option we explored.

I looked into a few other churches closer to the venue. In the meantime, my mom mentioned to me that she thought my grandma would be quite proud if we got married at her church. Even though the church is in the north end of the city, about a 15-20 minute drive from the venue, we ended up choosing this option.

5. What motivates you? A rather broad question but to me you seem very driven and great at achieving what you set out to do so I was wondering how you manage to do that?

I don’t know. I try to be organized. I was shocked to learn I have always been organized. One cousin who couldn’t attend sent my uncle a letter to read at the reception. My cousin, nine years older than me (actually, that makes him Wade’s age), remembers me as a little child organizing games. (I don’t remember that.) My aunt spoke of how I’m so organized that she knew everything would be wonderful. I was surprised to hear of this theme over and over.

I don’t like being unorganized. It makes me feel out of control. I had nightmares months before the wedding because I hadn’t done certain things yet. Once I started planning things, those nightmares went away.

In terms of what motivates me: my fear of feeling out of control, I guess!

Professionally, I’m motivated to do a good job. I feel that (in health & safety) I have the potential to impact people’s lives, not on what happens to them, but what never happens. If I do a good job, people should wonder what I’m there for.

Seriously. As I was told in grad school, the goal of a H&S professional’s job is to put him/herself out of business. The goal is zero workplace injuries, right? People question what you do and the necessity of training if there are no injuries. So my goal is for no one to get injured, everyone to know what they’re doing, and if that means people wonder what it is exactly I do, that’s fine. (As long as my boss likes my job!)

Personally, I’m motivated by my love of learning. I’m also motivated by my love of family & friends. I’m motivated by my love of travelling. I’m motivated to question everything, because I need to know the reason why things happen or how things work. I love museums – whether it’s a museum of science & technology, history, art, archaeology or whatever. I love reading. I love learning. I think that’s why I love to travel – because I learn so much and see new things and experience things I could never experience just be watching the Discovery Channel or surfing wikipedia.

So those are my five answers!

I offer anyone the opportunity! If you would like to interviewed with any five questions of MY choosing, just message me!