“It sounds like you had a very fulfilling career Bette and you’re still going strong. What is it that you feel you’re lacking … what haven’t you done?”

“My career path and my passion for what I do have been very fulfilling, rewarding, and lucrative T. I’ve had an amazing life. There isn’t very much that I want for that I haven’t already achieved in my professional life. Now finally my personal life is catching up. Having you with me and looking forward to a future with you as my wife. Raising children; building our lives together it’s more than I’ve ever imagined possible. I’ve been so blessed and so fortunate. I just want to give back now that I am at a point in my life when I can do this. I’ve worked on indigent patients and I do several local charity cases a year but what I’d really like to do is something globally.”

“I’m not sure I understand babe.”

“I want to do mission work T … at least for a year before we settle down to have our family. There is an international organization that provides plastic surgery to people in underdeveloped areas of the world mostly concentrated in Africa, Asia and South America. They are staffed entirely by volunteer doctors and medical professionals. T not only do they have plastic surgeons to perform operations on people that otherwise would not have access but they also work hand in hand with the local professionals to train them with the skills and to give them resources to create long-term sustainable medical facilities. Some of the most obscure places on the planet now offer a full complement of reconstructive surgery and integrated care in state of the art facilities because of this program.”

“Wow and this is all done through volunteerism?”

“Yes. Of course the organization has a very aggressive fund raising campaign. I’ve donated generously since I learned about them in medical school but I want to do more. I want to join one of the missions. I’ve thought about it for years and something always came up that distracted me or waylaid my plans. I want to experience what it’s like to travel around the world with a team of doctors doing this humanitarian effort. T I’ve been gifted with a talent. I want to use it to serve the underserved. I think it will be challenging but oh so fulfilling and life changing not only for them but for us as well. The need is so great and with little effort on my part I can make a huge difference and ultimately transform the lives of children and adults that don’t have the privileges we so often take for granted. What do you think?”