Life as a Challenge

As I enjoy my last two weeks as a "true teen" I have been thinking about the past 20 years of my life and I began thinking about how life is a series of "challenges."

Why is it that I am at an accredited college and yet others expect so little of me? Isn't life SUPPOSED to be challenging? Why is it acceptable to get by with the minimum number of credits, or the easiest classes offered? Just because some individuals choose to take the easy route, what makes my advisor, my professor, and my peers think that that's the route I want to take.

Maybe the expectation is different at higher level institutions, but if our country needs hardworking, highly motivated individuals, why does our country expect so little of us when it comes to education?

I'm beginning to think that "challenge" has many different definitions.

Sister Time

Far too often, I think that people take their families for granted. I know I am very guilty of this bad habit. So much has happened within my family that I often feel that it is better to stay away from all of the drama. Well, I went to lunch with my sister today, (something that hasn't happened in a very long time.) and I really enjoyed spending the time with her without others around. She's only 23, four years older than myself (although she'll be 24 this week!), and her son is just under a year a half, so for the past 17 months a lot of focus has been put on the baby and not my sister. I didn't realize how much had happened in our two lives during that time period. Today, we were able to share with one another what we have been doing with ourselves lately. I learned that she starts classes in two weeks to work toward a degree as an LPN. She learned that I am at the point in my life where I am stressing over post-college plans. (And as any older sister would do...she assured me that everything would work out just fine!) We were also able to talk about our plans for our futures. I learned that her dream is to one day work at St. Jude Children's hospital as a pediatric nurse (something I never imagined my sister doing, but something that made me so extremely excited to hear!) As we talked of course we laughed and made fun of each other a little bit, but all-in-all we had an awesome discussion! Sometimes I feel that I spend so much time with friends that I don't always take the time to be with my sister. I was very fortunate that we were able to "reconnect" today. Following the new year, I said that I wasn't going to make a new years resolution, but I think I'm going to resolve to spend more time with the person who knows me better than anyone, my sister!