聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 It鈥檚 strange. Ten years ago, I can guarantee you I never thought my life would have turned out the way it has so far, let alone five years ago. Ten years ago I thought becoming a pathologist sounded cool. Five years ago I was finishing up my degree, thinking about working for the fifth or sixth summer in a row at Clancy鈥檚 on the Beach at Lac Pelletier, and looking into places I wanted to go that fall while travelling in Australia. My thoughts then were about possibly learning Russian and Mandarin in order to continue onto a Master鈥檚 Degree and potentially a doctorate in history regarding the relationship between the Soviet Union and China in the early 1900s, which I truly found fascinating鈥� and still do.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Returning from Australia the following year I decided to get a job and work for awhile before making any big decisions, and on my Facebook timeline the other day, they have 鈥淢emories鈥� that you can look at from previous years on that day, and I discovered it was on March 5 that I had come for a job interview at The Observer. I got the job but didn鈥檛 start until after the Easter weekend as it took me quite awhile to find a place to stay. A fifth wheel, which just so happened to be the one we had owned when I was around seven-years-old or so, it looked familiar and then Dad told me to look in the back. There it was a ladder on the bunk beds my opa had made complete with a wood burnt emblem of his name. I guess it was meant to be, now four full years later, I鈥檓 still here.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It鈥檚 odd how the closer to 30 I鈥檓 getting, the more I鈥檝e started wondering about if I鈥檝e been following the right path and despite now being 27-years-old I still very much feel like I鈥檓 not an adult. Maybe I鈥檓 not the only one?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I like to think I鈥檓 fairly adult-ish, but then the other day I was to go coach volleyball and that day it hit me, I had no clean cotton socks! And no, playing in wool socks was not going to happen. So, getting home after work I did a quick load of laundry and was slightly late compared to what time I鈥檓 usually there鈥� and my socks weren鈥檛 even completely dry, they were at that damp stage which is bearable but unpleasant. It happened and I just thought to myself, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e a terrible adult.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 That鈥檚 a sentence I have been using quite a bit these few months before my birthday hit, haha. I had pulled out my Super Nintendo from childhood and completely beat Super Mario World, the very first game I had ever played back when I was probably six-years-old. But I had some free time and spent a few hours throughout a weekend beating it. And no, not in one sitting I was adult enough to do some work and cook but, I beat a couple levels there, a few here, etc鈥� And was pretty excited as the end result was beating all the levels (including Bowser, the final boss), finding all the secrets (with help from the internet once because my memory from when I was six to now isn鈥檛 perfect although I was surprised by how many secrets I could remember, and that included ones I knew about because others had gotten them when I was little but I never had.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, my six-year-old self would have been very proud of me for that accomplishment, but as I sat there watching the end credits I thought, 鈥淚 need to learn how to adult better.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Thinking that through, I wondered, what does it really mean to be an adult? You make your own decisions, you handle your own finances, you get a job, find a place to live, make payments, move away from home.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 And although I don鈥檛 always feel like an adult, I know I am. And I might be questioning, 鈥淲hat am I doing with my life?鈥� that question has been plaguing me for the last 10 years, so I might as well just keep going where life takes me.
