Under the Milky Way

After almost simultaneoulsy turning twenty-four and then graduating college, I've been thinking a lot about being "grown up" and what that means. Life sure is funny how it all works out, isn't it? I swear, I feel almost as if I'm stuck in time being ten years old finding out that I was an orphan. How can I already be twenty-four? Time sure is fickle. When you're a child, you can't wait to grow up. And when you're older, you want to go back to childhood when "life was simple." Why can't we just be happy where we're at?

Today my brother was reminding me of the way I was when I was a child. Hearing these things made me reminisce about my childhood and my anticipation of the future. I always thought my life would be different. I always thought that I would be famous somehow or have this HUGE impact on the world through the Peace Corps and therefore win the Nobel Peace Prize or something. I had these high aspirations for myself. Why did I ever lose those? Since when is it not okay to dream? Sure, I graduated college with a 3.9 gpa and that's fine and dandy. But, in reality that means nothing compared to the life experiences I'm half afraid to have. I want SO badly to go out and do something with my life, but I'm scared of what that entails. I'm scared of what I would be leaving behind. I guess graduating college isn't as good as it's cracked up to be. Having a degree means nothing without those childhood dreams to take you places. I need to figure out what dreams I would like to accomplish and then go for it! There's no time to be lazy or unmotivated or anything like that. If I want to do something, there isn't time to waste. I have to start now as best I can. It's like Zach Braff said on "Garden State": This is my life, Dad. This is it. I spent 26 years waiting for something else to start. So no, I don't think it's too much to take on because it's everything there is. I see now it's all there is.