The first 12 years of my life I grew up in the Texas hill country in a ranch style home on about 3 to 4 acres. At the time all I wanted to do was move into the city but as I look back on it now I realize how good I had it. I went to a small private school and it just so happened that two girls from my school lived down the road from me so we would ride bikes and go "explore" the hill country.
Behind our backyard was undeveloped land, about 150 acres of undeveloped land to be exact, so it was like our very own Bridge to Terabithia if you will. It was whatever our imagination wanted it to be. During the summers we would pack a lunch and just set out hiking. As I think about this now I don't know how our mothers ever let us do this because we could have gotten seriously hurt, or lost I mean we were eight years old. I guess those were different times back then but I digress.
The girls and I would set off for our very own adventure and we would talk about what we wanted to be when we grew up and of course at one point we all said a veterinarian. As the years went on we still went hiking in the summers and still had the same conversations but our choices started to take a different shape. We wanted to move out of Texas and our vocations changed as well, college was in the cards for all of us but after that life just seemed exciting we could do anything!
Cut to 14 years later and I wonder sometimes where that imagination went. Don't get me wrong I love my job and I'm good at it but I certainly didn't think this was the path I would end up on. I have done some amazing things like study abroad, moved to New York City on a whim, and other things that I didn't think I could accomplish. I think as my 27th birthday is rapidly approaching I am starting to wonder if this is where I am settling down. I tend to wonder if gone are the days where if I wanted to just pack up everything and move to a different country or state. Realistically I have nothing holding me back, no special someone, no mortgage payment, no children, but at what point in your life do you say enough is enough, this is where you are?
Last night while hanging out with my closest girlfriends one of them asked if we ever looked at different jobs or professions on the internet. To my surprise for the first time in my life I said no and it scared me. Have I become a grown up and I didn't even realize it?
love this post...i think it's ok to do either/or--move on a whim or decide you feel at home where you are. i don't think of it as settling--i think of it as growing some roots and really making a life for yourself. I think you can do that where ever/whenever. I definitely don't feel settled here in Dallas so that's why I'm leaving but of course I could get back to NY and decide I hate that too. It's all one big flippin' adventure! In short, please move back to NYC with me! I keed. I keed.
Posted by: Emily Ann | March 29, 2007 at 01:44 PM
"I rent a room and I fill the spaces with wood in places to make it feel like home, but all I feel's alone. It might be a quarter life crisis or just the stirring in my soul.
Either way, I wonder sometimes about the outcome of a still verdictless life."
- John Mayer "Why Georgia"
Truer words were never spoken, uh, sung. I went through the same thing around that age (I'm 33 now) and I still sometimes go through it.
Emily Ann is right though, it's all one big flippin' adventure!
Posted by: goal10der44 | March 29, 2007 at 05:16 PM
damn ! don't you just hate when you get snapped into reality!
I hated when that happened to me. One day, I woke up & I realized I was the grown up in charge of the kids, and buying groceries, and making sure we got to piano lessons on time, and that I needed to tell them they could be a veterinerian if they want to. etc etc etc.
btw- that was last year. it took me til I was 36, you my dear, are way a head in this game. ha ha
I love your blog.
you need to go to my blog and look up the "tidbits about me" section. I copied part of your biography.
~paj
Posted by: paj | March 30, 2007 at 08:54 AM
I completely understand. This is not at all where I thought I'd be by this age. But who knows if I'll ever just settle where I am?
Posted by: Superfantastic | March 30, 2007 at 12:56 PM
What IS IT about 27? It's the new scary age.
Posted by: Janet | April 03, 2007 at 01:50 PM
I just came across your blog tonight, and I laughed because I'm turning 27 this year, and struggle to find my place in the world.
You write beautifully...
Suzanne
www.authenticwoman.blogspot.com
Posted by: Suzanne | April 08, 2007 at 07:11 PM
We're in NYC, smack dab in Manhattan and our dreams are about our place in the Hill Country.
My daughter (and us, too) -- we want to end up in Texas.
Posted by: MotherPie | April 09, 2007 at 08:41 AM
WE love breakfast food for dinner. On easter morning we had pancakes. My husband made them and snuck in applesauce.
I caught him.
He said his grandmother used to put babyfood into her cakes. "Made them moist."
You write so much I could think of a jillion things to comment on.
Posted by: MotherPie | April 09, 2007 at 08:43 AM
That comment above? Sorry... It was supposed to go on my blog friend Miss Cellania's blog www. misscellania.com
Posted by: MotherPie | April 09, 2007 at 09:11 AM