(43-19) My Path

Sunday is typically errand day for me. I balance my check book, go to a super market or two and do whatever else needs to be done. As Nicky's 11 and capable of staying home alone for a while, he doesn't often accompany me on my Sunday errands anymore; but today he joined us and I had the pleasure of the company of all 3 of my kids. Since I had a captive audience, I took the opportunity to thank them for their patience and understanding about the time that I'm allotting to write my blog. I told the kids that it was important for me to write EVERY day this year and I apologized for having to put off some of the things that they wanted to do, so that I could write.  I told my kids that this was the year that I was going to pursue my dream and that I had a very positive feeling that things were going to change for the better for us.

We talked about KNOWING what it is that you're supposed to do for a career and I explained that I believed that writing was what I was MEANT TO DO even though I've done other things up till now.  I told them that I had written from the time that I was a very young girl and somehow or other I got sidetracked.  I remember being in 4th grade and having to write a story like "Why the zebra has stripes;" and I chose to write "Why people are prejudiced;"  (interesting choice for a 9 year old but what can I say, I guess I was always ahead of my time.)  I actually got called to the Principal's office about my essay, but it turned out that it was for praise and not punishment.  During 5th grade I did a lot of creative writing - I would make my own books and write stories for extra credit; just because I liked to.  I always did well In English class, but no teacher or guidance counselor ever encouraged me to become a writer.  When it came time for me to look into college's, one of the schools that I applied to was Bard College.  Bard appealed to me because at the time they didn't put a lot of emphasis on your SAT scores and neither had I.  Instead, they mandated that you had to have a special talent to get in; and so I said that mine was writing.  I suppose there must have been some truth to my claim because I did get accepted; but once I visited the campus, I didn't think it was the right place for me; so I chose to go to Long island University - Southampton to major in Pre-law.
No one was ever going to be a lawyer more than I was; until I wasn't - and during my Sophomore year of college I decided to change my major.  Since my favorite professor taught English and those were the classes that I enjoyed the most, I did consider becoming an English major; but ultimately I decided to take the easy way out and I became a Sociology major because all of my credits would transfer over and I would be able to graduate on time.  I've regretted that decision for many years; and if I could have a do-over; that is most definitely something that I would have changed; but alas I don't want to dwell in regret. I told my kids that not everyone takes the same path to get to their destination and although I may have taken a longer route; it's never to late to pursue your dreams. Maybe all of the experiences that I've had up until now will contribute to me being a different kind of writer than I would have been under other circumstances;
so I have to believe that everything happens for a reason. 
Till next time...

Queen of EVERYTHING