17 Years Later

Ashley Hellerstedt Farmer B-3 x days 5/3/13 17 Years Later I am currently 18 years of age, the age that most youth look forward to and believe it will be the best thing in the world to be considered an “adult. ” Considering that most teens like to live in the “right here, right now” moment, little do they realize 18 does not mean much, there is an entire future for them to think about. 18 is just a reminder that, as much as we may not want to, we are getting older meaning its time to start planning our futures.

In 17 years I will be 35. I do not like the taste of that statement rolling off of my tongue but still, it is the truth. 35 is an age that a lot of people see as the “oh my goodness I’m almost 40” age. But again, we all have to grow sometime. Currently I am a senior in high school and I graduate in about a month thank goodness. I have completely checked out of school along with all the other seniors. Although I may be slacking a little now, I do think about my future a lot.

I will be moving into my apartment in downtown Fredericksburg the day after graduation and will be attending Germanna community college in the fall. I plan to study at Germanna for only two years then transfer to a university. There, I plan to prosper and major in special education. At the age of 22 I hope to have a job working with families with special needs children. I love interacting with special needs kids. I believe they are extraordinary people who just need help being found. I want to be that help. Within the ages of 27 and 30 I plan to marry a military man.

Considering I come from a long line of military men it only seems natural to carry on the tradition. 5 years later give or take, I will be at the age 35. At this point I will probably be telling myself that I’m ready to stop getting older and never turn 40. But we all know that’s not possible. I plan to still be happily married living in Florida with two kids. I will still be working with special needs children and hopefully making about $30,000 a year. I haven’t had the best family experiences growing up and sadly it ended in my family splitting up so I plan to do verything possible to prevent that from happening in my future family. I will focus a lot on family time. I will cook my family a nice dinner every night. Every Saturday we will go to the park and have family time. Sundays will be church and more family time. I plan to have my children start in every sport possible starting at age 5 so that growing up they can decide which is best for them. For fun or me time, I will go to the gym and train for marathons and fun races. Well now a few years has quickly gone by and I will be turning 40 soon.

Oh boy, I’m getting old. Although at 35 I would have told myself I don’t want to get any older, I’m sure that I will realize there was no reason to wish away more years with my family and job. From 35 to 40 I plan to cut back on my hours working with special need children and focus a lot more on mine considering ones becoming a little football star and the other a young baseball legend. I will spend most of my time being the typical “soccer mom” as they say. Although, I will never own a minivan just to make that very clear.

I’m sure by this point my husband will have been promoted multiple times and probably deployed a few times and he will be my hero just like my dad is now. I will be a strong wife and mother. I will have a happy family living in a nice beach house working with the greatest kids on earth. I will be successful and will thrive even more after 40. After writing my future plans down, I realize maybe growing up wont be so bad. I look forward to my wonderful future doing whatever I shall and with whoever I end up with. I believe I will live a long happy life.

But for right now, I am still only 18 getting ready to graduate and looking back on my high school years more than looking forward. I’ve had a rough 4 years in high school. I endured many struggles and made it through all of them. If I could change one thing from 9th grade til now I don’t believe I would. Although things were tough it made me a stronger person and will help as I grow older to not make the same mistakes again. I can only wish that my future life will be the best it can be and with a family that stays together forever. I am ready to take on the future even if it means I will turn 40 one day.