"Either" And "Or"

One of the best things about my job is learning about the interesting clientele. Whenever I send a therapist out to a home visit, for instance, I always ask how the treatment goes. Sometimes I care about the health of the patient, but sometimes I want to live vicariously through the LMT and imagine the places they go. Last night was the latter. I scheduled a home visit for a calligraphy teacher and the therapist who went out there is great at describing people and places. 

"How was the home visit??" I asked.

"It was great! She's a wonderful woman. She had all kinds of artwork in her house."

"Yeah! She's a calligraphy teacher!"

"Well, she's a medical researcher at the university actually, and she teaches calligraphy on the side. But the artwork...there were all these amazing paintings on the walls. It turns out they were all done by her son, who's been painting since he was five years old. He's 18 now and he's going to school for engineering."

This made me stop. Here were two very talented artists whose careers were/will be in scientific fields. In one of my last posts, I wrote about being useful and doing something you enjoy. It seemed to me that some of the most well-off people were those who had a "useful" job and some kind of hobby on the side. I like that combination because it seems balanced. However, I don't know where I want to put my usefulness. I don't know how I want to be beneficial to society. How do I choose? I kind of want to do everything and try everything. 

While I ponder that, I'll also think about taking one or two calligraphy lessons. It's been on my mind lately and I couldn't believe that a teacher essentially came right to me. I can't really afford it, but I'm trying to convince myself I can go without new work clothes or a pair of tennis shoes: shabby chic still has merit and barefoot running is in vogue anyway right?