Chapter 1
Dreams, I thought. Dreams are actually pretty bothersome when you think about it. You know exactly what you have to do to succeed in life and you are set on doing it, but that’s when your dreams come in, to ruin it all! Dreams stroll up to your mind, unannounced, and steal away the little blueprints in your mind to your path to success. Dreams replace those solid, steady blueprints with other ideas. Silly ideas! Ideas that come with no blueprint. Fall in love in Italy. Become a rock star. Sail around the world. How do you go about accomplishing these things?
Your mind attempts to create a blueprint for these otherworldly dreams of yours. Logically you think, “That’s it. I’ll study abroad in Italy. I can fulfill my dream without abandoning my studies!”
That plan sounds great when you first think about it, but naturally, complications arise. There’s no study abroad program in Italy offered for your major and it is all too expensive anyway. Why did I even want to go to Italy?
You are satisfied with your logic and decide to take a well-deserved nap. That is when your subconscious revs up again, and reminds you that you do want to go to Italy. You have a wonderful dream in which you meet the love of your life in the cobblestone streets of Italy. You wake up feeling romantic, but then groan when you remember the pile of homework you still have to do.
That’s what my life is like. Except, I haven’t discovered exactly what my calling is yet. I know it’s there! I know there’s something unique and amazing that I have yet to accomplish. The difference between my dreams and the Italy dream aforementioned earlier is that I am actually going to chase mine. I don’t want to have the average life that every suburban high school kid has.
For now though, I do. I’m currently stuck at Newberry High School in Gainesville, Florida. No, it’s not the cool, diverse city of Miami. I’m about five miles north of Miami and I’ve never even visited. I live in a tiny suburban town, the kind of town in which mini fairs filled with hay rides, rubber duck racing, and cotton candy are the most exciting events of the year.
I was thinking about all of this on my way home from school on a warm, January afternoon. Yes, warm. It is summer practically year-round in Florida. As I walked up the driveway, I imagined exotic places and exciting landscapes, a future where I could make a difference and find my purpose in life. The universe has a funny way of responding to your thoughts, and I was about to find out how. I was not aware of it yet, but I was about to receive the biggest news of my life.
