Do not think me gentle because I speak in praise of gentleness, or elegant because I honour the grace that keeps this world. I am a [wo]man crude as any, gross of speech, intolerant, stubborn, angry, full of fits and furies. That I may have spoken well at times, is not natural. A wonder is what it is. (Wendell Berry)

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Question of the Year

At some point in life one must decide what one is going to do for, well, the rest of it. Some can skate by relatively easily without making many decisions that have an impact beyond the following hour or so, others have their whole life planned out by the time they're twelve. I was the first one. Even my decision to come to Spain was surprisingly not overwhelming because I have the fantastic habit of doing things without regard for the consequences; the consequence of this being the sick nausea I felt all of a sudden when I realized I was on a plane to Madrid and I was about to be in college. I couldn't eat anything for the next two days, had a good cry, and was fine.
I am about to embark on this decision making process once again. I can't decide if I'm supposed to stay in Madrid or double major in theology and Spanish in America or hop off to Morocco to live with the orphans or go home and live unemployed with my mother for the next twenty years. Each has its own pros and cons.
My rationalization for not caring and making a big deal about these decisions is this: I don't even know if the sun will rise tomorrow. Nothing is certain. I could die by the hands of the crazy lady in my building or be run over by a car (gruesome but possible, seeing as though it's almost happened before) or I could all of a sudden develope an affinity for economics or marketing and go that route (please, Lord, anything but marketing!).
In light of these facts, I can tell you exactly where I'll be in a year. Well, there are two options. One, I'll be here, or I'll be somewhere else. If I'm here, no problems. If I'm somewhere else, I will inevitably be in, or will have just gotten over, that state of shock I'm in every time I realize what I have just gotten myself into.
To be honest, I'll most likely be in that state of unbelief that I did it again and I have no idea what I'm in for. In the immortal words of Jesus, "don't worry about tomorrow, because today has worries of its own." Actually, I don't know if that was Jesus who said that, but I know it was in the bible...(trails off into theological discussions about whatever) Anyways, today has worries of its own, like going to bed now because its late, and the excuse I'm gonna use tomorrow when Prof. Matute asks me why I don't have my homework.

"Because the crazy lady in my building ate it."
"I was up till all hours writing in my blog"
" I had to sweep my floors really bad."
"I saved a small innocent child from almost getting hit by a taxi and then El Pais, the newspaper, saw me and I had to do interview after interview and then Stephen Speilberg saw one of the t.v. interviews and thought I was a natural and then I had to go make science fiction movies for him and then the mayor of New York...."

3 comments:

Heather Cady said...

I can narrow it down for you quite a bit. You are supposed to stay here in Madrid with us forever and ever, work for Oasis and we'll even let you go visit the orphans in Morocco.

Deal?

Please don't go girl!

Anonymous said...

Who would have thought that once you went to Spain you wouldn't want to come back. Sob, sob.(mom crying) It doesn't have to be for 20 years - that's rediculous, but I can go for 10 or 15... What's Morocco when you can have your laundry done and an occational home cooked meal???

Ana Michelsen said...

You can stay forever here baby!!