What you see is what you get? What you get is what you got.

Here it is people, my workplace. It's a humble building (and beginning) but I have imagined working here as a "doctor" since I was a little girl. I remember when is was Frames By You and my parents bought it. I would wait in the filing room to go to PM kindergarten. I'd sing on the front steps and watch the cars drive by, I mowed the lawn and when I got older, I worked as a receptionist. Becoming a sole proprietor is intimidating but I understand that everything in life is a learning experience. No regrets. Just do it. And don't look back.

Speaking of doctors, I was on Hotmail's 'Spaces' and came upon a blog that quoted Sun Simiao, one of the most admirable physicians of Chinese Medicine. I felt lucky to find it by chance in the week my doors opened to the public, and want to share the oath he wrote 1500 years ago:

The Oath of Sun Si Miao for Physicians of Traditional Chinese Medicine

As a Physician of Traditional Chinese Medicine:

• I shall look upon those who are in grief, as if I myself have been struck and I shall sympathize with them deep in my heart.
• I will not give way to wishes and desires but develop first a marked attitude of compassion.
• I shall not ponder over my own fortune or misfortune and thus preserve life and have compassion for it.
• Whoever suffers from disease and illness will be looked upon with contempt by people. I shall maintain an attitude of compassion, of sympathy and of care. In no way shall arise an attitude of rejection.
• I shall treat all patients alike, whether powerful or humble, rich or poor, old or young, beautiful or ugly, resentful relatives or kind friends, Chinese nationals or foreigners, fools or wise men.
• I shall not emphasize my own reputation and belittle the rest of physicians while praising my own virtue.
• Neither dangerous mountain passes, nor time of day, neither weather conditions nor hunger, thirst nor fatigue shall keep me from helping wholeheartedly.

With this oath, I shall fulfill my responsibilities and my destiny as a physician to each and every patient who seeks help from me, until I am no longer capable of fulfilling my obligations, or until the end of this lifetime.

I sit here thinking of all the overwhelming possibilities I could encounter as patients walk into my office. I want to make it better, relieve their pain, make them smile...but this is not a simple task. I'm already facing differences by practicing on this coast, and number one is providing a conversation about what acupuncture is. I also have to look the part-whereas I could wear casual outfits covered by a labcoat in San Francisco and my age was rarely an issue because I was a student, now I must buy a new wardrobe, wear makeup, get manicures etc. Business is your image. The only problem I have with this prejudice is that this is a fairly recent profession in the US. I attended school with people that were decades older than me and in their third career. That doesn't mean either of us are more knowledgeable based upon age, but you see a man like my father who has been practicing medicine for 30+ years and you trust his experience. You hear a woman on the phone that sounds young and people try to negotiate prices. But, who said life was fair? I knew going into Eastern Medicine that my Asian genes couldn't hurt my passion, my roots, my blood (my great-grandfather was an herbalist). Except those genes, combined with my desire for a youthful spirit, is why people are so curious to know just how old I am.

If people could remind themselves not to judge every so often, perhaps the boxes and pigeon-holes we build to fit an image for ourselves could go away and be gone! I am constantly asked whether I am full-Vietnamese (Yes), and I am proud of it. But I often wonder why people ask--what compels them, and if they are satisfied with the answer or just surprised that their assumptions are pointless. I don't look Vietnamese? I have my father's eyes and my mother's skin, my grandmother's love for poetry and horoscopes, my sisters' mix of pragmatism and rebelliousness, but everything else is mine. Maybe I don't look 100% because we can't trace history and bloodlines, or because I am very Americanized (and proud of that too).

No matter where you come from, don't forget those that came before you. I may not speak the language but it is singing within my soul. SAT NAM.