“Everything tastes better with chocolate.” That's what my dad has always said to me. From the moment I could eat solid food, chocolate was the first thing I would smear all over my face. Chocolate became our “thing.” Anytime we go to a restaurant, we split the chocolate cake. When I was younger, and my dad had to work one day in New York City, he would come back with a giant Hershey kiss for me from Hershey’s Chocolate World.

My dad has always been someone I look up to. He is a local doctor in my hometown back in Long Island, New York. He took over my grandfather’s practice and has worked to keep it going, even in this crazy world where private practices are hard to maintain. Of course, I get bombarded by my grandfather and my dad to become a doctor just like them to keep it running in the family (I seem to be their last hope), but I soon came to realize, science isn’t my thing. Sorry dad. However, there are aspects of my dad's job that I want to follow.

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to work with my dad in his office. He allowed me to even enter the room and meet some of his patients. I learned many things, one being that I definitely do not want to be a medical doctor. The terminology and looking at blood work is just not my future calling. But secondly, I learned that I do want to help people. Although my dad is not a psychiatrist, he had a patient who was a cop and had a lot of anxiety about his job. Hearing the police officer’s story made me realize that I still want to be able to help people like my dad does, just maybe without the blood stuff and body parts.

Now I get to major in psychology where I can learn all about human behavior and how to help people with anxiety. And who knows, maybe I'll even get to learn about what makes my dad and I love chocolate so much.