Young women, who have many options today, must want to teach, and they must be prepared to do so. Higher standards for beginning teachers and fewer jobs have made teaching as a career more competitive. As any experienced teacher knows, however, there is no way one can be fully prepared for dealing with the complexities of teaching. Translating theory into classroom practice is a challenge in any context--there are some important aspects of teaching that can be learned only through painful experience. It helps, though, to have someone point the way. By reflecting on her own professional life, the author has learned new ways to understand her own circuitous--and largely accidental--development and how to more effectively work with students who are preparing to teach. The author prepares her students for the "real world" by sharing her stories and asking them to reflect on and share theirs. She believes that as students, they need to see how they can learn from experience. Thus, her goal is to prepare them to cope in less-than-ideal situations by helping them to learn a way of thinking about teaching, which begins with critically examining their own experiences. By reflecting on their own experiences and the perspectives of others, they can begin to see how the insights they gain from the process can help them both improve their practice and their interpersonal relationships.