The Broad Running Broad

Taking care of business is an inevitable part of life for pretty much everyone. The unpredictable part is what kind of business and just how long it’s going to take to in fact take care of it.

This latest round: five-ish months. Which might be a new record for me.

Since the last time we all chatted, I’ve spent the past five months in my new position and learning the ropes there; ran a few more races (Cap City Half, Cleveland Half and the Columbus 10k); knocked down some financial hurdles; and got accepted for a professional development opportunity that’s aligned with the direction I’m wanting to go in my career.

And as of this afternoon, I completed another year-long chapter. Last year I started the first course in the AU designation series (me note: I work in insurance and this is an industry thing. This isn’t going to be a technical, jargon-heavy post.)

I was able to pass the AU60 exam on the first try and frankly went into the AU61 exam underprepared and overconfident.

I didn’t pass that one.

So I decided to move studying to the back burner and focus on my job for the remainder of 2024.

I got the AU61, AU62 and ethics courses out of my way this past spring and originally planned to take the summer off from studying. My goal was to finish all my coursework and get my AU designation before the year was up. By late May the AU62 was done, and I figured I could sit pretty, relax and enjoy my summer before resuming studying in the fall.

That only lasted a month.

By late June I had submitted my material request for the elective CPCU551 and started studying in early-mid July. Part of me realized that I didn’t want to try and squeeze studying and an exam into the tail end of 2025, and I’ve been ready to get this chapter closed from my first course exam last July. It turns out I have a love-hate relationship with studying on evenings and weekends and would rather do almost anything else than read about equipment breakdown coverage.

Although if I got tired of underwriting, I could probably make a killing on YouTube reading my textbooks to help insomniacs overcome their ailment. But I digress.

And so this morning, after a few weeks of studying like I did for finals week in college, I logged onto The Institute’s website, clicked the “share screen” button for the virtual proctor and got to work. The exam consists of 50 questions it’s pretty easy to overthink, although I will say this round went better – there wasn’t any minor profanity. I did still say a prayer before pressing the “Finish” button though.

And ….

I passed.

I finally got that last course completed.

I am finally Allison Gallagher, AU.

Okay, maybe not officially, since there’s probably a step I’m not remembering right now, but the biggest hurdles to get there are finally conquered.

After a year of on-again, off-again stressing, I’m finally feeling proud and relieved.

You know Reader-Friends, at this point in my life I’ve been alive long enough that hurdles and breakthroughs probably shouldn’t delight me like they do. But then again, if it wasn’t for stressful times and doing the unpleasant things because we’re in a season where we have to – kinda like the Mark Twain quote about how if you have to eat a frog you might as well do it first thing in the morning, and if you have to eat two frogs you might as well eat the biggest one first – how would any of us know what relief and delight are?

Another IRL passage has come to an end. And now I need to get back to late summer fracas. The schools around me have just started and I’ve got about a month to savor solo pool time. What’s August if not pool time?

Yours in life and writing,

Allison