When I grow up....

Make this background music while you read :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCVrC7Dg2qo

You know when you're a kid and you dream about what your future will be like? You have ideas of what you want to be when you "grow up". For the longest time I wanted to be a firefighter. I remember I had this plastic dress up outfit I would wear all the time...it even had a big hat and "boots" that went over your shoes with it. When I got a little older I remember telling my mom I wanted to live with her until I was 30 and that I wanted to wait until then to get married. I'm pretty sure in my head if I ever got married I would just continue living with my mom, regardless of what the guy wanted. :)

Skip a few years forward and I wanted to be a teacher. I believe this one lasted a bit longer than some of the others that followed. I thought about cosmetology. Photographer. Culinary school (I wanted to be a baker). I got an associates degree with a pre-major in psychology. I think my passion for teaching was taken away when I realized how entitled children these days seem to be. How school doesn't so much seem to be about learning but about the teacher giving the child a passing grade. The parents just go to the teacher yelling if their child gets a bad grade....that they earned....

After receiving my associates degree I really ached to get out of my hometown. That's when I spent a month in Hawaii. Living with a lady I found on craigslist. Hawaii was life changing. It ignited the passion I have for traveling now. When I returned from Hawaii I moved to Raleigh for almost a year but near the end I was miserable with my living situation so.....I took my 4 month road trip  Another unbelievably life changing experience for me. I don't think I will ever stop aching to travel now. It's a part of me. When my road trip was over my sister had her second baby and I spent the following year nannying my two nieces. That year not only brought me closer to my beautiful nieces and my sister but it taught me so much about myself. It was difficult at times to care for a new born baby and a 4 year old (now 1 and 5 of course). I wouldn't take back one single day of it though. If you ask Noelle what she remembers about our year together I am sure she won't forget to mention Alem falling of the bed and Auntie FREAKING out. :)

Now. I sit in San Clemente with my family friend and her two children. I have no idea where I am going with my life. All I really know is that I want to see more of this world. I want to meet new people and experience different cultures. I want to help people. I want to impact every person I meet in a positive way. I want to learn new skills and teach others. I can't imagine going back to school anytime soon. SOJA has a line in one of their songs "maybe I should go back to school but anymore education just makes me feel like a fool" That line speaks volumes to me. I know many people don't understand that though. I will probably finding work here in California soon. Start saving my money back up and begin to brainstorm my next adventure.

Right now though, at this very moment, I am completely content with the unknown. I don't want my life planned out step by step. I don't want to have to live up to certain ideas of how I should be doing things. I want my life to twist and turn in unexpected ways. I want random trips and random friendships. I want to find happiness in the most unexpected places. I want to be free. Every. Single. Day. So right now, my 24 year old self says "When I grow up I want to be free and happy with everything I do in my life."

I'm on Top of the World. :)