Life is a story, one you continue to write day-by-day. Every milestone, every achievement, every year documented like a chapter.
This week was momentous, and will certainly go in my book of life, because I turned in a draft of my thesis. Although this may seem like just turning in another paper, it means much more than that to me. This event has brought me one step closer to graduation, one step closer to finishing 21 continuous years of school, and one step closer to finally accomplishing plans I had laid out at the age of 13 when I was in middle school.
It's crazy to think about, but I remember the day so vividly when my eighth grade class was told that we had to start thinking about college. I mean, wasn't the thought and transition into high school enough? Apparently not, because they urged us to have a plan.
So, the obsessive planner mentality kicked in and I listed out some schools that I was interested in and started exploring programs. I didn't make any definite plans, but I knew that I was going to college and possibly even more school beyond that.
Once I was in high school, those plans become more finite since I had chose my top three schools and knew I wanted to be an English major. But going to graduate school was something that I was thinking about in high school, and my plans for grad school were finalized once I was in my undergrad, the process clearly repeating itself yet again.
As my story starts to come full circle, I realize that I am proud of all my planning and decisions. But it's time for me to move on from school and start a new chapter of my life. I know pursuing my writing as a career will be a big part of my next chapter. I know pursuing a career as a publishing professional will equally be a part of my next chapter.
But where it will all take me, I can't really say. All I can do is dream, because dreaming is what got me to where I am today. And if there was anything I wanted to say to my former 13-year-old self, it would be "thank-you" and "you did a good job, kid."