When people ask me where I see myself in ten years, I always respond with "kicking ass at life and loving every minute of it." I see myself with an amazing job that I wake up to every day and owning my dream house. I see myself coming home and watching Grey's Anatomy after a long day. I see myself grading papers at night for class and not helping children with homework. I see myself being able to go out on dates and to shop and not worrying about who's babysitting the kids. I see myself taking vacations because, "Why the hell not?"
I tend to shy away from the details when people ask me, because I always get these responses, "oh so no kids in the future? Isn't that selfish?" or "is a job really more important than starting a family?" Or (my favorite) "women are put here to have children for their husbands, not spend their lives working."
Honestly, I believe God had more in store for me than just marriage and procreation. I know that I am destined to do important things in this life. I know that I am going to change the world one day and I couldn't be more excited.
Since I was a young girl, my biggest dreams were always about careers and education. I never dreamed of my Prince Charming and my fairy tale wedding (I did swear that I was going to marry my dad when I was 6 though). I always had everything planned. It started off with just wanting to be an artist and then next came astronaut. When I was 6, I decided I wanted to be a surgeon and held on to that dream until I was 15. At 16, I decided I wanted to be a teacher and an author and now I'm on my journey to this destination.
Every day, I look forward to having a successful career and a fulfilling life. I look forward to walking into my classroom and touching every child's heart and impacting their lives for the better. I look forward to writing novels and touching people around the world with my words.
I do want to be a mother some day. I honestly would love to come home to little kids yelling, "Mommy." I'd love to be able to hold a bundle of joy, that will be my angel for the rest of their life. I'd love to help them with their homework and teach them how to bake cookies; I meet plenty of young girls who dream of being a mother and staying at home with their children but I've never had that feeling. My passion has always been to have a career. I have goals I want to accomplish, places I want to see, and things I want to do. Yes, I want children, but not right now, or anytime soon, and I think that's okay.
So this is a shout-out to all the girls who strive for their future careers more than their future families. You continue to do what you dream of. Fight for those dreams every day and reach all of the goals you have set for yourself. Don't let anyone ever tell you that you're meant to do a certain thing as a woman because they're wrong. As women, we can do anything we want to do. So you do you, honey, and don't ever stop.
