I was out on my nightly jog last evening with my best friend Jackson. He wasn’t talking much so my mind began to wander.
I was recalling a recent conversation with a few acquaintances. I had mentioned to them that I used to tell people I didn’t go to college because I “couldn’t really,” because I had my son when I was 16.
I told them also how this wasn’t quite true though- that I didn’t go to college because I didn’t want to.
So back to my walk with my best friend- my dog Jackson. In thinking back to the conversation, I wondered to myself, “if I didn’t want to go to college, what did I want to do back in high school?
“Be Jesse’s mom.”
Transitioning from middle school to high school I didn’t have clear post-graduation goals or dreams. That changed by the end of my sophomore year. A mom. I wanted to be a mom. Not 5 years from then, not 10 or more. Now. I wanted to be a mom now.
Having a baby at 16 years old isn’t a beginning of a life plan that I would recommend to anyone. But I wasn’t anyone. And I wasn’t one to follow the norm. The voice inside me has always been louder than the voices outside. I’ve also always trusted it more than the outside voices.
By the end of my junior year of high school, I was a mom, a student, and an employee of my state’s Department of Corrections.
The first part of my life’s destiny was just beginning- and I couldn’t have been more excited.
Still a child myself, my son and I would navigate this world knowing we always had each other. And that we do.
My synopsis in my high school yearbook for my senior year. I threw in some college plans since that was always an option- however unlikely.
All I truly knew at that point in my life was that I was fully devoted to my son and 100% committed to giving us the best life I possibly could.
Listening to Wrapped Up In You by Garth Brooks
