22 April 2008

My Life in Six Words

I'm long overdue to finish a Meme from academama, but it's taken me a while to come up with one. I actually really love this meme- it's from a story that Hemingway once wrote a six-word short story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." So here's mine-

"I'm still figuring it all out."

See, I always thought I knew what I was doing. I was going to be a lawyer, get married in my late twenties, finish the PhD in 5 years, want more than one child. And then life happens. And continues to happen. I decided law wasn't for me, got married years younger than I ever thought I would, have taken far more than 5 years finishing this PhD, and waffle about having any more kids. In the next year, I have huge changes to navigate. I'll be done with my degree and may or may not have a job. We'll have to decide where to move, where to settle, which jobs to pursue, if and when we want number 2. I have a lot of figuring to do. The thing is, I have finally reached the point where I understand that the changes aren't going to stop--that there's no finish line to cross that signals my life is as it should be. And I love that.


I don't feel like tagging anyone in particular, but if you want to play along- here are the rules:
1. Write your own six-word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4. Tag five more blogs with links
5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play along

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shoot, I'm waffling on whether or not to have any children at all, let alone more than 1! I'm getting married way later than I expected to. I only have my bachelor's degree (and took my sweet time earning that!). I would love to get to a point where I understand that change happens and life doesn't always work out as planned. However, I'm still in the "Crap, I'm losing the race! How am I ever going to get caught up?" phase.

So, in my book, you're way ahead! ; )

AcadeMama said...

Re: life happens....

Somehow, I came from a double-wide trailer in a town of 1,100 people, from a 2A school where the only sports were basketball and baseball, where we didn't even have a stoplight, much less a college-prep curriculum, to a PhD program at an RI school, finishing a doctoral degree while raising 2 (a third to hopefully come along soon) children, and planning to be an English professor when I grow up. Thank God life happens!

And thanks for playing along with the meme! I'd forgotten about the Hemingway piece. I'm glad I did though, because who can compete with that??

Lisa Dunick said...

amen to all of that.

Anonymous said...

I love this concept. Good exercise. Now I find myself thinking in 6 word increments. Not sure I'm ready for it to be a memoir, but these three aren't bad mantras...
"It doesn't have to make sense"
"Right now it works for me"
and finally
"I'll have what she is having."

allison/amomthing