Re: ridecamp-d Digest V00 #434

[MBlanchrd@aol.com]

In a message dated 03/18/2000 5:36:45 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
ridecamp-d-request@endurance.net writes:

<< today, I signed up for classes 
 for my senior year.  I really don't know what I want to do afterwards.  And 
I 
 realize that I have time to think about it, but I can't help feeling a 
little 
 lost.  >>

Renee, welcome to the Real World. I don't know about the rest of the 
Ridecampers, but I can honestly say this:......when you find out what you 
want to do , let me know. I need a hint!
Seriously.......some of us, like me, at the ripe old age of 45, STILL have 
not decided what we're going to do when we grow up. If we grow up. I may be 
an adult, but I refuse to grow up.

I can tell you what helped me A LOT. I joined the Army. I spent twenty one 
years in it, did a lot of different things, went all over the world, met 
great people, one of whom I am lucky enough to call my husband. I learned a 
hundred different skills, a smattering of six languages, an appreciation for 
cuisines other than American, and a sense of history. I developed traits, 
like self confidence, learning to speak in front of a huge crowd, learning 
how to set goals and achieve them, learning to depend on myself and trusting 
my judgement.I learned the importance of three words: Duty, Honor, 
Country...and how the three affect everything I do in my life. I didn't get 
to do a lot of horse stuff until I retired, but I am doing it now, and can 
afford to because of my pension and my job.

I'm not saying you should join the military to make a career out of it. 
That's not for everybody, though it was for me...but try a three year hitch 
after you get out of high school. It will give you some money for college, if 
that's what you want, it will get you away from home, allow you to learn what 
life is like in the real world without expecting you to pay for it right off 
the bat, send you to different places in the world, etc, etc. You'll learn a 
trade or a skill, meet a lot of people, laugh yourself silly, work hard, work 
long. You will accomplish things that you never would have dreamed of being 
able to do.
It will give you breathing room. It will allow you to immediately begin doing 
something honorable (serving our country) and something worthwhile, while you 
sort out in your head who you are and what you are meant to do in this life. 

For me, I learned that horses are not my only passion. I also learned  that, 
to me,  banding birds is almost as important as riding a horse, that I like 
to cook and love to garden, that seeing a foreign country from the 
inside...as a resident, not as a one week visitor..is an incredible 
experience.
And.....you will find pferdefruendes wherever you go. That's German for Horse 
Folk.It's an incredible feeling to be aboard an enormous Westphalian gelding 
and be riding in what used to be known as "the Black Forest" in Bavaria. Or 
sitting atop a fiesty Welsh cob and riding amongst oak trees as wide as your 
house in the hills of England. People speak horse wherever you go.

Finally...(and it amazes me, but I am sure to recieve flames for this...) you 
will learn what an enormous blessing from God it is that you are an American. 
It may sound scmaltzy, and, as I said, there's a few people out there who 
will privately flame me for saying this but..... America is the greatest 
country on earth. 
Try it, Renee, and if you have more questions, let me know.
Michelle 
MBlanchrd@aol.com
Oly, WA