When I grow up, I want to be......

Here I am….working on my MBA…..sitting in class for hours, studying note cards on the train, stressing out about quizzes and final exams. What, they ask, are you going to do once you get your MBA? Will you get a raise at work? Funny you should ask…as I was asking myself that same thing this morning.

A butcher? A baker? A candlestick maker?

I don’t like the site of raw meat, I can barely boil water, but candlestick making…there’s something I might enjoy. Dip in hot wax, dip again, repeat, repeat again…..you get the picture….no one to manage, no one to hire or fire, no making “weather conversation” in the elevator when you don’t feel like it. Just sit, dip and watch the people as they stop by the window to watch me making candles. Candlestick making….hmmmm….something to think about. Maybe I can use my MBA and open a candlestick making shop in downtown Elmhurst. Maybe I can open a candlestick shop in one of those cute little, WARM tourist towns. What would I call it? Beth’s candle shop? Skinny Dips? (I kind of like that one!) What are your ideas?

If you don’t know what I should call my candle shop, maybe you have another idea of something that you think I would be good at when I grow up? I am open to suggestions.

What I do know is this….I don’t think that we end up anywhere by chance. I know that there is a reason that God brought me to a place that only has 65 days of sunshine a year and temperatures so cold that they turn fire into ice. I also know that one day I will look back and say: “oh….so that’s why I needed my MBA!”.

Strange things are happenin’!

A made my annual voyage to the southland for the holidays a few weeks ago. While I do enjoy going “home” for the holidays, it can prove to be rather stressful. There are always more people to see than humanly possible in one week. Unavoidably, someone gets their feelings hurt because I don’t see them or don’t spend enough time with them. I promise that it’s not intentional. It’s just impossible to visit all the people that I came to know and love in 35 years in Georgia in one week. To make matters worse, I got sick and spent two of my precious visitation days holed up in a house watching TV. So, if I didn’t see you or I didn’t spend enough time with you, I am sorry and I really do love you!

The really cool thing is that IF you come to see me…you get me all to yourself. Some of you need to think about that (you know who you are!). And, as an added travel bonus, you can see one of the coolest, most awesomist cities in the world!

The strange thing that happened on this last voyage was that I got homesick. It was the first time that I was in Georgia, but considered Illinois home. It was a strange feeling. Normally when I am there, I don’t want to “go back”. This time, I was ready to “go home”. So for my friends who moved to Chicago after me, who are still homesick (hmmm...hmmmm....no names....MR and LC)….the answer to "how long does it last?" is 3 years and 3 months……one thousand, one hundred eighty five days….no more, no less.