Growing Up And Moving Out

When you are a kid you have many ideas of what life might be like when you get older. 

-Like having a million animals and having them all in your house. 

-Being rich and able to eat kraft dinner at every meal.  

-Never having to brush your teeth. 

-Eating cake for breakfast. 

-Being a superstar singer and travelling the world.

As a kid, you have such a skewed vision of what life is like as an adult. You don't understand the adult stresses and struggles that your parents faced. But there are many times I recall getting a glimpse into adult life and I didn't like it.

I never wanted to be like my parents growing up. I never wanted to take after my mom or dad. I always wanted to be my own person. With my own goals and my dreams. 

My dad was good at so many things. He was an agro mechanic, he worked as a highway crewman. He did farming jobs, he fixed cars and trucks. He built things and broke things. He was a great father figure. But I never wanted to follow exactly his path like some kids.

My mom worked at a grocery store, she babysat and had a daycare, she worked at a greenhouse. Mom also built and broke things. Did lots of crafts and woodwork. But I never wanted to follow her path either.

I had big dreams and goals. Many things I wanted to do when I grew up. 

I wanted to be a vet or a teacher. I wanted to have two kids and lots of animals. I wanted to have a library in my house. I had so many dreams and aspirations. 

When I graduated high school I went into a Veterinarian Technology program at a school that had four or five floors and many stairways. I was so lost and scared. 

I guess I should explain a bit of why I was lost and scared.

I grew up in a small town, maybe 300-400 people in the area. My school was K-12 and had about 120 people at it, students, staff, etc.  It was small.

I graduated when I was 17 and I had 13 people in my class. 

Growing up I had no brothers or sisters. I had a dog and a cat. Sometimes I had hamsters and rabbits. I spent a lot of time outside playing or in my room reading. I was a well-behaved kid and I rarely got into mischief. 

When I graduated and went to college I was shell shocked. 

The school was in the most populated city in my province. The school had a cafeteria where you could buy hot lunches and pre-packaged lunches and coffee and cookies and pretty much anything you wanted. There was a library filled with tables and rooms and books and printers. There was an elevator to get to your classes on the other floors. There was a health nurse that gave you condoms. There were many doors and stairways and pathways and rooms... Needless to say, I was overwhelmed and super out of my element. 

I never finished my program at that school. Life threw me many curve balls including feeling like a fish out of water. We can talk more about this in future blog posts.

I still never followed in my parent's footsteps. I just stumbled back a bit and took another run at it. 

There is nothing wrong with wanting to follow in your parent's footsteps. Just make sure it's your dream too. 

Enjoy your youth. Enjoy being a kid. The adult stresses come soon enough. 

Stay awkward and stay brilliant.