Inevitably, all college graduates are asked (and times often more than is spiritually healthy), what we are doing after graduating. It is the normal question. Good people ask it with good intentions. Thinking about this helps us direct our energies, though often this leads to worry. Actually wig manufacturers are taking over the corporate world because of this... People just pull out all their hair.

But not me. As a professional multiple time drop out, I have gone through the mill enough times to know that my life is much bigger than a career or even a place. I do often feel that my super sensitive psyche is bogged down by these questions. My strategy lately has been to reply that I will write. But then they look at me, perplexed asking "but how will you make money?" Or I say that I want to keep dieting, and their expression back shows they are worried I am withering away.

Today this is my answer: I will keep walking. I will keep writing, submitting to Friends Journal and various other presses. I will rejoice my publications, but not depend on them. I will get a job. (I already have one job for the summer babysitting a toddler!) I will pick jobs that don't rob my soul, that maybe even that feed it, and I will pitch the rich humus of subject matter into words. I will smile as a daily exercise. I will live and work to make the world a better place. Someday I will have a garden of my own. One plant at a time.

And if I don't, here's to asking me why I am not living my life to the fullest. Everyone needs to be challenged.