Tishia’s Thoughts

What do I hope to achieve by 30 years old?

I am turning 28 in a couple of months and I’ve been pondering about what I have accomplished, whether or not I’ve lived up to my younger self’s expectations, and what I want to have done by the age of thirty. Just a lot of thinking going on.

Am I where I thought I would be when I was half this age (15)? I don’t have the brood I hoped for, but a piece of my heart is walking around in Maine and the two babies I have here under this roof are more than enough to keep me busy. I do want to adopt more children later on. I am not finished adding to this brood by that mean, although my body might be done carrying babies.

I thought I would be a librarian/homeschooler. I was going to be the night librarian at a university that has a 24 hour library on campus, sleep until noon, then using my afternoons to home school my 6 children; the oldest of which would be just starting his teenager years. I doubt that will be the case in two years. I did go to college and I left college just a few classes away from my bachelor in library science. That was a very frustrating chapter of my life. So close, yet out of grasp. It’s as well. I ended up moving to southwestern Missouri, where the library job market is very competitive. In New England, the library job market was/is wide open.

In two years, Wigglebutt will be 4 and preschool age. I still intend to fully homeschool Snicklebritches, but we’re now not sure this is the best for Wigglebutt because of his delays. He’s in 5 kinds of therapy as it is at only 2 years old. I am going to need all the help I can get to ensure he gets the education he deserves. At 15, I thought I would be this hardcore homeschooler, where the child is always better off at home. Now, I’ve changed the way I see it. Home education is the best for most children because of how you can tailor the education to their needs, but some needs are too great to not have professionals do a small portion of the schooling.

Especially speech therapy. I’m at a HUGE disadvantage, being deaf, and my son has trouble with his oral motor skills. In two years, I see myself enrolling him into this preschool within the hospital meant for medically special needs children (such as epilepsy, Down syndrome, spina binfida, cerebal palsy, etc.. and NOT autism, there’s a whole different preschool for autistic children in the behavioral center here in town). Anyways, I think we might have him enrolled in that 3 mornings a week, First Steps two afternoons a week in my home and the rest of the time I’ll fill it in with fun science and history stuff, which they do not cover.

The funny thing is back at 15, in my view of the future, I didn’t see a man. Yeah, I must have been married to have all those children and whatnot, but I did not see love. That is a pleasant surprise for me. I have a husband, a soulmate, a companion. He is my other half. I thought that didn’t exist. I’m glad that the universe saw it fit to show me that I was wrong about what love is. In two years, when I am 30, my husband and I will have been together for six; married for four years. I definitely did not anticipate being in love when I am thirty years old. I am not complaining at all though.

At this age, I am thinking about what I want to get done by 30. Two things come to mind. I want to have my book ready to be revised and sent to agents/publishers and I want to get back down to 145 pounds. I suppose I will need to start setting those two goals and work backwards to see what kind of timeline I need to establish in order to accomplish those goals. If you are reading this blog and you want to encourage me along, let me know and I can tell you when key dates/objectives are and you can remind me to see if I am staying on track and keep me accountable.

It boils down to this- When I am 30 years old; I want to be slimmer and carrying around a manuscript at a writing convention!