Can't Believe I'm Posting This

Yesterday, I had a totally surreal experience that not many people get to have in their lives. I got something in the mail that totally blew me away. I don't remember this at all, but apparently when I was a senior in high school, our youth minister had us write down our dreams or life goals, telling us he would send them to us 10 years later to see if we're still on track. Miraculously, he apparently managed to hang on to them for 10 years and then track us down and actually send them to us! (Shawn, you are unbelievable!)

Now, I don't remember doing this, nor do I remember what the situation was or how seriously he instructed us to take this. I dearly hope it wasn't meant to be a serious thing, because the vast majority of the "dreams" I wrote down are just idiotic. Or maybe I was just a major doofus when I was 17. Thankfully, most of you who will be reading this didn't know me then, so you can't get on here and post whether I really was a complete idiot back then or not.

I can't believe I'm actually going to post this, but for your entertainment, here is my list of life dreams from when I was 17 years old. I've included commentary/explanation in italics, and I've marked in red the ones I have achieved. I've marked in blue the ones that I still think it would be cool to do.

My Dreams:
1. Own a Plymouth Prowler. - I actually had to Google it to find out what a Plymouth Prowler is. (See picture at right.) I don't remember being obsessed with this car, but I do think it's cute. Now my dream car is a Toyota Camry... Wait! That IS what I drive!
2. Be happy with myself. - This is pretty deep compared to the rest of the things on this list. But I do consider myself happy now, and I remember not quite being so happy at that time in my life. Praise the Lord for carrying me from there to here!
3. Be a famous singer. - Uh, not so much.
4. Be a Disney character's voice. - This has actually been a dream of mine since The Little Mermaid came out. The lady who played Ariel was just a regular person, and her voice was AWESOME! So after that I decided it was something I could do too. I am doing absolutely nothing to try to make this dream a reality, and I doubt I ever will. But it would be pretty cool.
5. Publish a novel, or sell a painting or some other work of art. - I'm sure this one came from the fact that I was in an art class that I really loved my senior year, and I was doing some pretty good paintings and sculptures. I would still do it as a hobby if the supplies were free, but I'm pretty sure I don't have what it takes to make any money off of my art.
6. Own a house (with my husband and 2 kids) in Cape Cod. - What? I don't remember ever wanting to live in Cape Cod. I certainly don't now. This dream was probably more about having a husband and kids than living in Cape Cod...
7. Go into space. - I'll consider this unfulfilled, but looking at this list, it seems like I may already have been living there at the time...
8. Find my own constellation. - Huh?
9. Have a museum named after me. - Maybe the Museum of Huge Nerds...
10. Be a National Geographic photographer. - I've certainly always liked wildlife and nature documentaries, but I think I'll stick to watching them on TV instead of physically putting myself where the danger is.
11. Go to Ireland and sing "Danny Boy" in a cathedral. - This one would actually be really cool to do! "Danny Boy" has always been a song that has moved me emotionally, and it would be so neat to hear it in Ireland. Of course, I'd just like to go to Ireland even if I don't get to sing in a cathedral there.
12. Beat my dad at golf (or any sport, for that matter). - To my knowledge, the only sport I've ever beat my dad at even to this day is Wii bowling. But I'm totally counting that. I've ALMOST beat him at Wii golf, which I would count even more! But I totally blew it on the last hole... You WILL go down, Dad!
13. Graduate college with straight A's, or at least summa cum laude. - I did not make straight A's in college, but I did graduate summa cum laude.
14. Teach a student who goes on to become famous. - I have no idea where this came from. I've never wanted to be a teacher of any kind. Maybe I meant teaching Sunday School?! I have no idea.
15. Live for a couple years in a different country. - Hey! I've done this one!
16. Find out where my father's real family is from. - My dad is adopted, and apparently I felt like that was a great mystery when I was 17. When I was in college, though, my dad did find his birth mom, and I have met her and two of my half-aunts. There's not much mysterious about a birth-grandmother in Indiana, though... We did find out that dad has some Native American in him, which you can totally see in his face once you know. So that's cool.
17. Make a regular practice of using cheesy pick-up lines successfully. - How embarrassing that this was my last life dream. I have no idea what that's about.

I am so embarrassed.

So I've fulfilled 5 out of my 17 life dreams in 10 years. Not too shabby I guess. Of course, the majority of the dreams were completely asinine. So I hope that gives you all a deeper insight into who I am and how far I've come to be the person I am today...