Stepping Stones

Have you ever felt like you're slowly being left behind, like everyone's rushing around you and you can't even lift you feet off the ground? Have you ever listened to your friends or family talking about their throroughly planned out futures and felt a knot tighten in your stomach?

If you said yes to either of those, thank you, you're not alone.

Having spent the past 10 years of my life in school, 4(ish) of them in high school, and 6(ish) in primary school, it's scary thinking that I have less than 100 days left of my entire school life before I am, effectively, 'free'. But the thing is, I don't think I want to be. I've never been a big fan of change.

September 6th 2005 - first day of high school
I wasn't in a form with any of my friends (it also happened to be the day my head of year's first daughter was born...our year's been a little different right from the very first day).

September 15th 2006 - my thirteenth birthday party
My two 'best friends' spent the night bitching about me each time I left the room.

September 11th 2008 - the first day of options
I figured out right from the beginning it was going to be rubbish.

September ? 2010 - the first day of college
How can I know what it's going to be like?

My friends have got it all figured out, of course they have. They have the options, they have the career all planned out too. I have no idea where I'm headed, all I know is what I'm taking at college if I get in. My form tutor says it's okay that I have no idea right now, she says her son was the same. And I know she's completely right, but it's still hard accepting it when everyone around me is headed somewhere special. My cousin - medicine, My friend - surgeon, another friend - psychiatrist.

Yeah, I have some pretty clever god-damn intelligent friends.

The link to the title of this post (Stepping Stones), would be that September 6th 2005, September 15th 2006, September 11th 2008 and September ? 2010 are all just dates. They're all pavements that I've walked down, shoes that I've worn and stones that have formed the paths that made those both happen. The pavements were cracked, the shoes rubbed and the stones were bumpy, but I made it to the other end unharmed. There were more paths in between, some smaller, some larger, all equally as rough. The point is that even when the ground is rough, the shoes don't fit and the stones are jagged and bumpy, the next path is always round the corner, waiting with hope and the promise that you can take the shoes off for a while and reap the rewards of
the journey, not just the end destination.

I've got to go now, the rabbit (Dusty) is coming in for a while and the room needs 'Dustyfying' (she's adorable but has an uncontrollable love for chewing through cables).

With love, peace and adorable bunnies,
Rachel (and Dusty)