Advice From Adele and Irving

Yesterday I spent a hot languid afternoon with Adele and Duffy.

It was charming.

Then David and I cooked ourselves some dinner (he did the fajitas and I made the guacamole) and watched So You Think You Can Dance (mostly for me) and Star Wars(mostly for him).

While Adele was Chasing Pavements I thought about my dreams and my future and whether the two have anything in common. The other day I was asked why I want to be a teacher. And it was not the incredulous I-can’t-believe-you-want-to-do-that type of question (I don’t think). It was more of a mild curiosity (I think). I did not immediately have an answer, which did not worry me in the slightest (I swear). I genuinely feel I have chosen the right major for me.

I love school. As much as I complain about it and dream about graduation day there is no escaping the fact that school has always been my thing. Always. And more than that, I adore reading, am enamored with writing, and would love to do the two for the rest of my life. Hence, high school English. It’s not exactly rocket science. I hope to be able to help a bunch of bratty teenagers who could not care less find the magic in a piece of literature. Or at the very least, be able to write about literature intelligibly. I remember the first time I read To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye and Life of Pi and The Kite Runner and Pride and Prejudice and Invisible Man. They all broke my heart, they brought tears to my eyes, and they made me question my world. And they continue to do it over and over again, whether I am reading or not. Someday there is going to be a student out there who will find the beauty in the written word just like I did. And I will be there to watch. And I understand that this is all very idealistic of me. I walk what is (for me) the very thin line between idealism and cynicism. Today I choose to lean to the side of hope.

So there is my future. Hopefully. Now what about the other half?

I am a writer. It might not always translate to paper, but I have a writer’s soul.

“The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn’t behave that way you would never do anything.” -John Irving

I am still working on it, but I am slowly getting there.

And if I am going to go Chasing Pavements maybe something will come out of it someday. I don’t think it is that absurd of an idea.