January Project - CafeWriting

I am participating in the CafeWriting January project. It looks fun and while I have no real imagination or creative ability on my own, given a topic or list, I can pound something out with the best of them. I chose Option 1: Choose Seven Things: List seven resolutions that you’ve made - for the New Year, or just for yourself - that you’ve actually kept. (They don’t have to all be from the same year, either.)

1. I decided at the end of the year I turned 21 that I wanted to be a police officer. So, I went down and took the GED (General Equivalency test). I didn’t go to high school because I was working and helping my family and I needed a GED or diploma. I had the day off so I went down and took the test. I had to retake the science portion but otherwise, I passed and the ball was rolling.

2. In January, 19901 I tested to be a police officer with the local sheriff and one city department. I passed the written tests with no problems. I failed the first physical agility because I couldn’t pound out 32 sit ups in one minute. I froze on number 30 when the test proctor started counting down, 9, 8, 7, 6… Then the city placed a hiring freeze so I had to explore other options.

3. Needless to say, I am not a police officer. Instead, within a couple weeks I applied at the local community college. It took forever to get the financial aid applications in place and the pre-tests and such. I remember by September of 1990 I was on the fast track to a degree in legal studies. I completed both the one year certificate and then the Associate of Applied Science degree.

4. Then I got married. This was always a goal I had in the back of my mind but I didn’t know how or when I would accomplish it. Turns out I met Mr. Right during the last year of school and we were married in May, I graduated in June.

5. Then I got pregnant in July. Married in May, graduated in June, Pregnant in July. 1996 was a very busy year! Talk about wasting no time! I had been trying to get pregnant for almost a year. I wasn’t sure it would happen. Apparently, I had to get married and graduate first because after that, it all rolled into place.

6. I had my second child in 1999. By then, I was bored and had so far accomplished every goal I’d ever set for myself. I had my GED, two college degrees, married, kids, dogs, good job, and yet, something was missing. I called up my best friend and we met with the school counselor together. In 2005 we both achieved what we had thought would never be possible, something completely outside the realm of possibility for either of us with our families and full time jobs and life interfering the way it does. In 2005 we both graduated with a Bachelors degree.

7. I am currently working on my last goal. The process has been initiated. The goal I knew I would achieve some day. The one I set back when I was 14 years old. The one I didn’t think I still wanted until about seven years ago. The goal that has festered and popped in and out of my conscious, playing around in the back of my head for as long as I can remember. I took the Law School Admissions Test in December of last year. I was four points away from a score that would get me accepted to law school. However, my final goal comes in two stages: the test and then the acceptance to a school. I need to retake the test and then get accepted so I can become an attorney. Before I die. And since I turn 40 this year, I better kick it in the ass!