What do I want to be? That question once had the expression “when you grow up” tacked on at the end, but lo and behold, I have grown up. I have arrived. This Meadows is here to party.

So, what do I want to be? I want to be Patrick Dempsey’s wife. Or, I will even set my sights lower and say I would like to play his wife in a movie maybe. So basically, I want to be Meredith Grey; no biggie.

I think that, in this life, we all are given gifts. Whatever you want to call them: talents, skills, mojo, etc., we all have them.

When I was younger, I figured out I was a girl, and when I realized that wasn’t going to change (tomboy probs), what I really wanted, more than anything, to be was good looking.

I was a real thinker back in my heyday, let me tell you.

Well, what I got was thin hair, no fashion sense whatsoever, a nose that is just a tish too big, and a tendency to somehow always get lipstick smeared on my teeth (on the rare occasion that I wear it at all).

So, obviously, I wasn’t gifted with those flawless, easy good looks; that’s fine by me though. The world has enough people who are simply good looking. Being pretty is their talent, and I reckon that’s enough for them.

I wasn’t born with the last name Kardashian, after all.

Well, after this, I thought my talent was looking after sick people; I decided I wanted to be a nurse. Then I realized that sick people gross me out.

My career as a nursing major was both unsuccessful and short lived.

Then, I decided that business administration was my chosen path. I had this really nice picture in my mind of me kicked back, reclining in my high rise building with my high heels propped up on my desk.

This presented many problems, most troubling of which was the fact that I can’t wear or walk in high heels.

If you take a look at all the things and majors I have tried and failed at, you would probably tell me I’m hopeless. Me, personally, I just cross another thing off my list and keep chuggin’ along.

But along the way I have come to the conclusion that maybe, rather than pursuing a certain career, I should focus on and sharpen the skills God has given me.

I thought, heck, I enjoy writing. I love reading. I think today I want to be an English major.

And so it was. I finally found my major, and I realized a passion I had: writing.

I think God gave me the gift of the written word because he realized my spoken word has a slight Southern accent that makes it a bit hard to understand.

I didn’t even know what it was like to write on topics other than the ones I had for school until I started writing for the Odyssey. Needless to say, I can’t stop writing now.

Another gift I found out I have is that I’m a people person. I just love people. Plop me down amongst others, and I am one of the happiest and content people you will ever meet.

I’m that one person who comes into work early and irritates everyone else because I am so happy to be there.

Mornings are obviously a hard time for my coworkers.

So yeah, if you ask me what I want to do when I graduate, I will be perfectly honest: I don’t know. I want to be a teacher, a politician, a writer, and a lobbyist, just maybe (hopefully) not all at the same time.

But here is something that I think everyone should know: find your gifts, and do something where you get to use them every day. Do this, and you will excel at whatever you choose.

If you use those gifts in a way that some may think “doesn’t meet your potential,” that’s okay; as long as you are content and you love the path you have taken, that’s what truly matters.

As for me, I’m going to find what I love, and I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it wholeheartedly. I’m going to do it in the same way that I have done everything else in my life: in an obnoxiously loud fashion.

Find your gifts. Find your passion. Find your groove.