Dream jobs

Ever since I was a little girl I always knew I wanted to grow up, get married, have a bunch of kids and be a stay-at-home mom. I don't think there would be anything better than being a mother. However, now that I'm paralyzed from the neck down, this dream doesn't really seem to apply to my life anymore. This was extremely painful at first since it was my dream, but I've gotten over it and although it's disappointing, it's okay now.

Here are three other jobs that I contemplated when I was younger:

1. Meteorologist: when I was in elementary school I really wanted to be a meteorologist when I grew up because I found things pertaining to weather really fascinating.

2. Photographer: when I was in high school I took a photography class and I loved it! It was so fun learning how to develop film and to work in the darkroom. I decided that I wanted to be a photographer when I grew up, and although this was, and still is a dream of mine. I decided I needed to be more realistic about what I wanted to study in college. I knew I ultimately wanted to be a mom when I grew up, so I decided to put my dream of being a professional photographer aside, and settled on being an amateur since I knew I'd eventually have my own kids to practice on.

3. Hairstylist: I've always loved hair and makeup and think it would be great to be able to know how to do professional makeup, cut and color hair, style hair, do up-dos and braid in elaborate/fancy ways. Braiding tutorials on YouTube very popular right now and I love watching them, even though I'm not able to use my hands.

4. Nurse: after my first year in college I decided I wanted to be a nurse. It wasn't something I'd ever considered before, but after I decided to become a nurse, my mind was made up and I never looked back. I was so excited about becoming a nurse and I looked forward to being able to care for others. I still knew I wanted to be a mom, but I planned on working as a nurse until I had kids, and I knew it would be a practical degree to have just in case I ever needed to go back into the work field.

Now that I'm disabled none of these professions apply to my life, so I've had to regroup and form a new dream. I've decided that what I want to be most of all really isn't a new dream at all. My dream is to be somebody's wife. That's something I could still be and do a really good job. I know our marriage and life wouldn't be like everyone else's, but what I have to offer is an abundance of love and joy and happiness. There are so many people who are unhappy in their marriages, even though they seem to have "everything." My accident has given me a perspective on life where I have the ability to put the cares of the world on the back burner so I'm free to love purely and without the distractions that make some people unhappy.

World traveler

I wish I could travel, but it's not easy for me now that I'm in a wheelchair. I can take short car trips (seven hours is about my limit), but even still, it's difficult for me when I'm not at home since I don't have my special bed and my overhead lift that I use to get in and out of my bed/wheelchair.

I've visited several states in the US, but I've never been out of the country. It doesn't seem likely that I'll ever have the opportunity to leave the US, but I've learned to "never say never." Who knows if I'll ever be able to travel in an airplane to other parts of the country. I know it's possible for people in wheelchairs to fly, but I don't know how I would get around from A to B after the plane landed since I need a special van to get around since I can't just get out of my wheelchair and hop in a car seat.

However, if I could travel, here are some places I'd really like to see:
1. Hawaii
2. Rome
3. Paris
4. South Africa
5. New Zealand/Australia
6. Ireland
7. The Bahamas, or maybe some other beautiful place in the Caribbean
8. Shanghai or somewhere in China
9. Somewhere in South America (maybe Brazil) so that I could visit every continent (except Antarctica)

The place that I would like to visit the most, though, is:

10. Greece

The Parthenon

I've wanted to go to Greece ever since I was in college and I took an art history class where we studied Greece and all of its ancient history. I would love to be able to go to the Acropolis and see the ancient ruins, like the Parthenon.



Just another one of my dreams!