Skip to main content

General Ramblings on Dreams

My goals in life have little to do with the traditional American dream. You know the line from "Girl, Interrupted" when the principal says to Susanna that she has the distinction of being the only senior at the school not going on to college? That was me. It's difficult to have brains and social skills and try to justify why you have no desire to go to law school or at least get an MBA. It doesn't make sense in the minds of most Americans.

All I've ever really wanted is a family and the ability to write. Ideally, I could earn a living from the writing because my fantasy involves writing in places such as Medieval cathedrals and Mexican beaches and sitting on top of the Appian Way. But the fantasy doesn't exactly match of the reality, and I'm drained by my life. I don't like having to search for inspiration.

There's a piece of my soul that is suffocated by the stuff in my life. I mean literal stuff. Dresses I haven't worn in 10 years. Books I've never read or aren't useful enough to read again. A dozen computer cords and wires. These baubles weigh down my spirit. I cannot shake the feeling that I need to simplify and get myself back to my core values of family and sharing and experiencing LIFE...not THINGS.

Comments

Christy said…
I can identify, to be sure! I don't even have a four-year degree! I always feel like I should be saving the world or something....but it isn't what I want to do. My husband says I'm saving the world one cake at a time. But my life doesn't even afford me time to make cakes right now.

Popular posts from this blog

The Carnival

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon here in southwest Florida, although still a bit too warm for my November tastes. I'm learning to enjoy my weekends with as much unstructured and unscheduled time as possible. Last Saturday was a delightful unstructured day. A new friend of mine (the one from the Everglades excursion) and I went to a local carnival. Now, here's the thing...I LOVE carnivals. The food. The people. The rides. The lights. I can easily spend an entire day wandering through the crowds. He's no carnival slouch. The first thing we did was walk through the entire place, scoping out the rides. Then the fun began. We rode almost every ride there (except for the kiddie attractions and the broken Tornado). The Wild Claw. The Scrambler. The Orbiter. The Space Oddysey. The Swings. The Pharaoh's Fury. The Ferris Wheel. The Giant Slide. The Haunted House. The Avalanche. It was all good. How can you top a ride that uses centrifugal force to plaster your body against...

Busy Days Ahead

It's been a busy week for me. I left my house at 4:30 Monday morning for my drive down south and pulled back in my driveway at 1:20 this morning. The days have been long, too, between working at the new school from 7:30 until 3:00 or 4:00 and then working at the new place until 9:00 or 10:00 each night. I now have callouses on my fingers and not one intact finger nail. I think I've also developed a new twitch somewhere on my face. One afternoon this week, I stood in the middle of our new living room and took in the sight of missing drywall, a growing hole in the floor and soaked up my husband's predictions that we still won't be ready to paint by the weekend. All I wanted to do was cry. All I felt was nothingness. Numbness. Anyone who has ever reached the point of numbness knows that it's scarier than feeling like you're falling apart. It's one step beyond feeling like you're falling apart. I couldn't help but wonder just what we had gotten ourselves...

Stranger Obligations

I had to make a few difficult decisions this week. At least, they were difficult for me. I wish I could be the kind of person who completely makes decisions based on his/her own needs and wants and boldly moves through life with unabashed freedom from how our choices affect others. But I'm not built like that. I had placed an ad for my former stray. I felt like it was time to find her a more permanent home because so much in my life right now is uncertain. One person answered the ad, but she did not seem like a good fit, and I gave up further thought. This week I received another response. As long as this person is telling the truth, it's an ideal situation for the dog. Yet, I had a strange feeling and could not sort out whether or not it was my intuition kicking in or that fact that I actually like the dog and don't want to see her go. In the end, I decided that it was in my own (and my Winnipeg's) best interest for her to stay with us through the summer. (I seri...