Monday, October 26, 2009

Are you a frog or a tadpole?

TMI Warning: I got my period when I was eleven years old, and while Liza was wearing a training bra and praying each night that she'd wake up the next morning with something to fill it out, I was already rocking a B-cup. So, when it came to puberty, I was certainly not a late bloomer.

However, with pretty much every other stage in my life, things seemed to happen so slooowly. During freshman and sophomore year of high school, I went to dinner and a movie with a group of friends every Friday night, while most other girls in my class were out at parties, getting smashed and showing the upperclassmen just how slutty they could be. I didn't have a boyfriend until I was seventeen--who was also my first kiss--so you can only imagine how much longer it was until I experienced, um, other things. You get the point.

Basically, the first two years of college were much of the same. It took at least that long to make a tight group of friends (friends, not just girls I partied with), and for boys to notice me. I switched majors I don't know how many times, and when I graduated, I had absolutely no clue what the heck I was going to do with my life. While everyone else was landing jobs or going to grad school, I was waiting tables at the neighborhood restaurant back home in Kentucky.

And even when I made the leap to New York, it took me almost an entire year to get a job. (I'm pretty positive that at 24 years-old, I was the oldest intern alive. I was older than some of my bosses). Since I lost my job in the spring, and have been forced to totally reevaluate my life, I feel like I'm a tadpole once again. A damn old tadpole at that.

I was venting to my mom today about my situation, and she said, "Well, those who laugh last, usually laugh hardest." And I know she's right. I mean, being a late bloomer does have some positive points, too. I think the main reason that things have always happened a little later for me is because I've really taken the time and made the effort to figure out who I am and what will make me happy. All of my successes so far have come from hardwork, perserverence and a positive attitude--I haven't taken any short cuts. I haven't used people just to get a notch higher on the social latter, or pretended to be someone I wasn't just so I could score a cool, high-profile job. I've been true to myself 100 percent, which really, I don't think is something everyone can say.

With that being said, I'm ready for things to start happenin'! I want to be a frog, damnit!

How about you: Where are you at in the tadpole-frog cylce?

4 comments:

  1. Tadpole with legs for sure on the career front! It was totally scary to quit my job and go back to school and switch careers but it was worth it in the end!

    And I disagree that you are a tadpole! You've surrounded yourself with great friends and family and that sky rockets you above the tadpole stage!

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  2. Thanks, Lal! I'd say I'm a big fat toad in the friends/family arena!! My career might possibly be in the tadpole with legs stage too...well, at least I think it's getting there!

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  3. your last paragraph is so true. i have always thought of you as one of the very most genuine people i know. i am fortunate you are my friend!

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  4. Oh there you go making me blush again, MA!! Thank u :)

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