“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts”

Herman Melville

Like I said on the Homepage I am a 20-something looking to find my purpose and place in this world. I do live in Byron, Minnesota with my wife Megan, and two dogs, Aldo and Mowgli. Currently Megan and I both work in Education at the Mayo Clinic and we absolutely love what we do!

I grew up going back and forth between my dad and mom. With my mom in an extremely small but outstanding town called Manitowish Waters in Wisconsin on a (what was then) Northland Cranberry Marsh (now Ocean Spray). Then with my dad in several different places, moving to a couple areas for his teaching passions but then eventually landing in his hometown of Wakefield, Michigan. These places may have been small towns, but the people around me made my early years growing up priceless. I was very quiet throughout grade school (North Lakeland Elementary School), still being mostly introverted. And then… Football happened. And that transferred into High School (Lakeland Union High School) with many additions onto that such as drama, choir, acapella choir, band, tennis, mock trial, Latin Club, etc. Making many great friends and many great memories, I truly loved high school and will always keep it in a fond place in my heart.

From high school I plunged into a whole different world up at Northern Michigan University. Right from the get-go… I knew this was always going to be one of my favorite places in the world. I struggled finding which path I wanted to take, all I knew was I loved science and I loved people. So the possibilities were endless! I eventually found myself taking a genetics course and I fell in LOVE even more with science and the possibilities it could bring to our species in general. Majoring in Clinical Lab Sciences with a concentration in Diagnostic Genetics and minoring in Criminal Justice was my final path. Throughout my years at NMU I became an RA (Resident Advisor) for one of the residence halls on campus (the best one, Magers Hall, Spalding is pretty great as well). That job, to this day, was one of the best experiences of my life. I still treasure everyday in my heart. My college career ended with some very exciting events, some of which I will explain more in my writings. But health issues involving Mayo Clinic and an internship in the Molecular Genetics Lab at Mayo Clinic sums it up (stay tuned to hear more). I accepted a job before I graduated and worked in Molecular for 3.5 years. Once COVID hit, I began getting serious with the love of my life, Megan, and we started going on adventures around the Midwest. 2020 was hard for us all, for many reasons, but the one outstanding thing that came through that year was the addition of Megan and Aldo into my life (and Gilly and Mowgli’s life). Megan and I are engaged now, set to be wed in September! 2021 has been pretty great so far, getting better everyday! After 3.5 years of being a Clinical Technologist in the Molecular Genetics Lab, I accepted a promotion to be an Education Specialist here at the Blood Donor Center at Mayo Clinic! House projects, new job, traveling, wedding planning, and so many more things to tell you about!

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Lets persevere and move forward together.

Words to Live By – Alex Edition