The Ultimate U-Turn

So this one may be a little longer than usual...School was always easy to me. The fact that I skipped a majority of 11th and 12th grade while still graduating with a 3.8 says a lot. I remember at one point having 65 absences on record. But Hey Mom- I got all As! In 11th grade, I had letters from every Ivy League school in the country sitting on my dresser. I did not know then the significance of these schools wanting me. I had no one in my life talking to me about college. I had something more important to focus on - becoming a mother. My beautiful daughter was born 10 days before Christmas. Her first Christmas was spent in NICU. She had not made it home yet. It is quite an experience to become a mother at 17. Even more of an experience to watch your child almost die. So, I never really paid attention to those letters sitting on my dresser at home. The pile of colleges I could go to - for free. My daughter pulled through and is everything I have ever hoped her to be. Graduation rolled around and I had no plans. After a few months I knew that I "was too smart" not to go to college. So I made my way down to the community college and started taking classes. They had a sheet that told you the required classes to take to get your Associates degree. So I enrolled in the basics and took whatever electives sounded interesting to me- no rhyme or reason- no career goal. I met someone along the way (Emerson- I am forever grateful for you) who helped me get on the right track and to a University- for free. One problem. I had to choose a major. I had no clue. All I knew is I needed to make enough money to give my daugher a good life. My passion is to create- write, paint, draw- anything artistic. I never realized I could actually have a career come out of my passion. So I searched for my "I am being a responsible mother" safe major. One day I heard someone mention they would major in communications. I had no clue what that meant. I looked it up and it sounded like it would work. Seemed to have a variety of career options. My major- communications. In my junior year of college (still taking random electives that appealed to me) I took a magazine article writing class. It was the best experience I had through all my years of school. ( I would get my Master's immediately following undergrad.) I am forever grateful to that Professor, even though I didn't listen to his advice when I should have. After reading a couple of my writings he bluntly asked me "what the hell I was doing majoring in communications" I was clearly a writer. I did love to write. And writing is sprinkled in the careers you chase with a communications degree. I mean I LOVE to write. But all I could think of was that majoring in journalism would result in working at a newpaper, writing boring articles I didn't want to read, making little to no money. I continued on my path - communications, mass media emphasis, public relations specialization. (This is the point where I should have made a turn.) I've had a lot of great experiences since then. Some not so great. But now, I am officially making the Ultimate U-turn. I'm heading back to that day and making that left turn. My passion lives in a pencil and paper ( or keyboard and computer screen- but pencil and paper sounds better.) It's never too late to follow your dreams. Follow me as I make my left turn.