15w4d

We've been having a bit of fun these past few weeks. It started with a raucous adults-only Halloween party, then there were a few extremely lazy (and I mean LAY HAY ZZZYYY) days for me, and last weekend we trucked to my alma mater to see my dearest college friends and visit our favorite watering holes from back in the day. Blast. That's all I can say. No other words can describe how much freakin' fun we had. It was sunny, 55 degrees, packed with more PSU fans than I remember fitting into little ole' State College, and the nostalgia was in full force. Some of my favorite establishments were just as I remember them from 10 years ago--others left a lot to be desired. And only, like, twice did I feel old compared to all the itty-bitty babies walking around. Good news is that because it was a football weekend, there was always an old man in full PSU-attire around the corner to make me feel young again.

Today we're getting together with another couple from our adoption agency. We've become good friends since May when we met at our class, and it has been such a blessing to have a real, live person to touch base with when I feel like I am the only one waiting. J & A are tremendous--funny, committed, excited about this journey. I am so very thankful that we've gotten to know them because even though I can hop on here and find a bunch of you who know my plight, there is just something about having another live person across town in the same boat as us.

Work is work. And the shoe didn't drop all the way this week, but enough to shake my confidence, as anticipated by me. It's a broken record and I don't even like talking about it anymore. I swear if I am still doing this in 10 years...well, you can finish that sentence. To combat my poor work morale, I started looking at taking the GRE and at various MA/PhD programs around the country. My dream/ultimate career goal is to finish my PhD and to teach on the college level. Full-time, that's going to take a minimum of 5 years to do. It's very overwhelming in some respects. But, the first step is getting back to the books and getting a good score on the GRE. That in and of itself is daunting to me on some levels because I haven't studied or looked at many of the standardized test subjects since early in college. And that's been well over 10 years now. But, I'm also MUCH more savvy, maybe even smarter, than I was then so I'm hoping I'll pick things up quickly once I start really studying. Who the heck knows how we'll pay for it, but for the first time, BigTex didn't shut me down when I brought it up like he has in the past. I think he realizes that I'm not meant to do what I do, no matter how good a career it may be. There really is something to be said for doing what you love v. doing what brings in a big check. I'm all for having 'things', but I'd give nearly all of it up tomorrow if it meant having a family and a job that I loved. I'm sure many of you would agree.

I'm going to do a separate post of my Joy Breaks--a long, collective list from the past two weeks. I owe it to myself to really see all of the blessings I have in my life, because I know how lucky I am. I hope you are lucky enough to feel the same about your life!