Growing up the rhetoric was always the same.

“You need to go to college to get a good job.”

“You can’t go into dance, it’s not a career. You need something to fall back on.”

“You don’t have the strength to handle the rejection of Broadway. Go to college. Get a real education.”

“Go to college.”

“Get a degree.”

It was drilled into me over and over and over. I had to go to college. I had to. I couldn’t go for dance, I had to do something that was “worthy” of my intelligence, and my parents approval.

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I went to college.

Twice.

First time I went for Environmental Science.

I flunked out…spectacularly.

Like, have you ever heard of someone having a 0.0 GPA?

Yeah….

Two years later I went back. New school. New state. New dream.

This time I went for Dance Education. I did well. I excelled, actually. 3.83 GPA.

Then I got kicked out of my aunt’s house because her husband is a spectacular ass and ended up out of school for a semester, then when I got back on my feet ready to re-enroll I learned I was pregnant and that was all she wrote.

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College didn’t work for me. I have plans now, as an adult, to further my education again – but it’s taken me a long time to figure out what I’d want to go for to follow through on a promise made.

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My kids?

Well…I’ve always held firm to the belief that the future was theirs.

When he was younger, my son wanted to be an astronaut, then a doctor…and then…he wanted none of it.

Did he have the intelligence for it? Hells to the yes. That boy is smart as a whip. He could probably have completed med school and become any kind of doctor he’d wanted…

But he no longer wanted it.

I knew all too well that being forced to go to school when it’s not what you want only leads to debt for something unfinished, and in some cases, completely unattended.

Do I worry about him?

Well, duh. He’s my kid.

But all I’ve ever wanted for my kids is for them to be happy. To find what they want and go after that dream.  Denver did, he found it and took off 2 years ago and is still happy as I’ve ever known him.

Next up is the girls.  Molly is about to enter high school – I mean, WHAT? When I started this blog she was a toddler!!

But I digress.

As of right now – neither of my girls have their eyes set on college.  They both have a thing for art. They don’t know what they want out of it yet, and for all we know they may choose a different future for themselves.

Will it make it an easy path for them? Maybe not…

Will it make them happy?

Boy, I sure hope so.

Denver has proven that with enough drive and dedication, you can make a pretty good life without it. It’s taking me longer to prove the same to myself, but I’m getting there.

Whatever dream, whatever path, my girls choose – I’m there for them.

I truly believe that they need to live out their dreams, not mine.

I hope those dreams take them far.

No matter what, I will be proud of them for chasing them. I hope they are proud of me for chasing mine, even if those dreams came along later for me than it will for them.