Wandering

At long last my college "career" is winding down. Only two more semesters of classes and one semester of student teaching and I am finished, done, out of there, over...you get the point! Yay, right? No, more like aaahhhh!

Earlier today I was talking to someone at church. We were having a nice chat catching up on our lives when she asked me the dreaded questions, "So what are you going to do when you graduate?" Ugh. I really had no answer. You see, for the past two in-a-half years my life has bee pretty ritualistic. Go to school. Christmas break. School again. Summer break. Go to school, well, you get the point. I have not had to worry about what I am going to do, where I am going to live, the whole nine yards. Even more importantly, I have not wondered what I am going to do with my life.

For a college student who is getting close to graduation life is confusing, there are so many choices to make, and many different roads that can be taken. Well meaning people have said well meaning things to students, encouraging us to pursue our dreams, telling us that we have the ability to do anything we want, we can make it to the top - that's the problem, what if we do not know what we want, or what exactly our dreams are? And where exactly is this "top"? So what if the world is open to us? We do not know what to do with this new wide expanse of life. I think many times we are misunderstood because everyone thinks that now that we are through with our schooling we should be ready to settle down and begin our careers, living happily the American dream. Uh sure. I am so glad people think that, but man do they think wrong because quite the opposite is true.

From my point of view, I know that God has called me to work with teens, therefore I am pursuing a degree in education. My life should be pretty simple, I should finish my student teaching and either go right into my own classroom or get a masters degree. Ummm....but what if I do not know that I am ready yet to be in front of a classroom? And for goodness sake, I AM TIRED OF SCHOOL, so going right to grad school is kind of out of the option.

My cousin, Greg, is a doctor. I remember when he was in between undergrad and med school he took a year off to just bum around, have fun, and do nothing. At the time I was in grade school and did not understand why he would do such a thing. Now that I am approaching that same time I totally understand. A break sounds amazing. In fact, I may just do that. Who knows, the world is open out there to explore, why not explore it? There is time enough to get serious, but precious little time to relax and enjoy life to its fullest.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover."

~Mark Twain~