Over the course of my life, I have been asked many times, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" First of all, I don't want to grow up. I want to be a hippie that lives at the beach, in a van, has dreads in my hair, plays guitar and smokes natural things to help me better 'commune' with Mother Earth and the skies and the ocean :) OK, so that's probably not going to happen just yet, but it will happen though. So what do I really want to do? I have asked this question many times of myself and the same thing just keeps coming up. I want to travel. I want to see the world. I want to start with traveling in my own home state and actually go see the Grand Canyon. I don't want actually have a 'real job' that I go to 9 to 6 or whatever, I don't want to be made a slave to anyone else. I just want to experience what our world has to offer... except maybe Iran and Beirut. Not that I have anything against those places, however I feel that, as a woman, it may not be the best place to go and be a tacky tourist in those particular locations.
When I was in 5th grade, and I remember this very distinctly, we had an assignment to describe a picture. Make up a story about a simple painting with a tree and a stream and a fence and farmhouse. This seemed so hard for my classmates. We had wanted to go out for recess, because that is a super important event in the day, and this was the assignment that would get us there, if only one person could write a good description. No one was able to write a paragraph on this painting. I finish my writing and raise my hand, (we had to read it out loud to the class) and Mr. Greene calls on me. I took a deep breath, and began to paint a picture with words. It was one of the best descriptions that I had ever written. I got us to recess that day. The assignment was five paragraphs long... Oh I used to be able to string words together in such a way that even the most advanced of my peers and sister's peers were impressed. I knew then, I loved to write.
In high school, I used to keep notebooks full of just little notes that made no sense to me. I still have these notebooks too. I remember one of them used to be full of funny things that I would think of, like, why does the GLASS bottle of Heinz Mustard say POURABLE Mustard? I mean, one would think that given that the bottle is made of glass, you would not be able to actually squeeze the product out... Does the word Duh mean anything in this scenario? Or, I was friends with a lot of girls that went to the same church as I. One in particular, was a very close friend of mine. We spent everyday of 8th grade together, never missing a day of talking. Our freshman year, didn't say hardly a word to each other. Why? I can't rightly say, but I do remember thinking why is she so damn perfect looking? I can't wait for the day that she is fat and has acne. I know, not the nicest thing I have ever thought, but I did think it. And then there were the thoughts of all the guys that I had a crush on... there were many of those, though, I never was asked out in school... ever. I would have to say I'm still a bit bent out of shape over that one... That's OK, I'm fucking awesome now, and they are not what I want... anymore :) Thomas can't believe that I was never asked out in high school. He just shakes his head and says, their loss. And he's right, it was their loss. There were thoughts of what is a perfect man, and what kind of qualities do they embody? I have the man that I wanted all those years ago, and so for that part, I'm very grateful for those thoughts.
So, to the point, how do I take what I love to do and what I want to do and make a career out of it? Travel writing is my answer. I take the classes on how to get to the point of what people want to know and take them to places they want to see and tell them all the best places to eat and sleep.
... I love food too... guess that goes with the hippie part. I have found a school online that teaches this very thing, so that is going to be the goal. To get a sponsor or scholarship or use my tips to get to the school... it's $350 for the course. I have looked at some of the work of my clients and I think to myself, I can do this. I have the ability to do this... now I need a magazine to write for... I think the goal would be Travel & Leisure magazine, or National Geographic which either one, would be something to shot for, for sure.
I am going to have a lot more posts this coming month of the different places that I do get to go see, probably about hiking, since it's something we do as a family and I can write about what happens on those days... saving the details of shorty having the runs or fun little things like that. Once I start going on this one, I would really like some feed back on the writing itself... Be nice, I haven't tried to write like this for a while, but, I can't wait!!! I will be bringing my camera on these little adventures too, so watch out for some pictures of the places we get to go. Hopefully, Thomas will take more pictures of the places and the neat things that we see together.
I have stalled many times with writing, and I think, after finishing reading Erma Bombeck's If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, Why do I have the pits, I realize that I can do anything that I want to. Writing is the easiest, most fun thing that I love doing. So that is what I am going to do... I have another goal of starring in a movie opposite Brad Pitt, though, I'm not sure how that will happen just yet :)
Anyhow, I have some things to do this afternoon... Ciao!
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