A few days ago, I saw this picture in my timeline (from Karen Salmansohn's page ).
And it made me think.
Because it really spoke to me.
Maybe not so much the "my whole life" part, because I don't like to be dramatic; but there were a few plans, that didn't pan out.
And it's true - I am okay with it. More than okay. Because otherwise I certainly would not be where I'm at now.
When I was six years old, my favourite aunt married an American soldier. Their wedding reception was at my great-grandmas's house, and I remember being fascinated by him. I kept staring, trying to understand at least some of what he was saying, but I had just started school and English was not on the curriculum until Grade 5.
After I finished my piece of the wedding cake, he came to talk to me. He asked me something, and I just smiled and nodded. I found out soon enough what he was talking about, because he put another piece of cake on my plate... and I was positively stuffed. While I could not eat another bite of the cake (I wish that would happen nowadays), my hunger for learning how to speak his language was insatiable.
I picked up a few words here and there, but my aunt and uncle soon moved stateside and I only saw them sporadically. As soon as Grade 5 came, I was all over learning English, and picked it up quickly. Later on, I added Latin, French, Spanish and Italian to the mix, and even a year of Russian. I went on student exchanges in England and in France.
On the way to England, we stopped in Brussels. We did a quick tour of the city, and I learned that the European Parliament was there. I was in Grade 10 at the time, 16 years old, and I instantly knew what I wanted to "be". I would finish Grade 10, and then go on to a private language school, to become a simultaneous translator. Of course I would move to Brussels after that and work as a translator in the European Parliament.
Since I live in Canada now, you might have already guessed it - it didn't work out. My father was 100% against it. He did not want to spend the money for the language school and education was the root of all evil, as far as he was concerned. Colleges and universities were breeding grounds for terrorists, and he was not having it. It was the time of the Red Army Faction, also called Baader-Meinhof group, in Germany, and he was convinced that whole thing started because a "bunch of rich kids got stupid ideas while they were in college" and now they were going around, terrorizing the country. He probably still thinks he saved me from becoming a terrorist myself.
It took me many years to get over it. I know my path would have been very different. And sometimes I think about living in a condo in Brussels, with a view of the Atom. But I could not ask for a better life than I have now, so it's safe to say it all worked out in the end. Not as planned, but definitely okay.