dreams

One thing I've always loved about Ryan is his limitless dreaming. I've said this many times, but he really wants to and believes he can do everything. Be a P.A? Sure. Become so good at snowboarding that everyone and their mom wants to sponsor you? Why not, we've got time. Live in Alaska? West Virgina? Haiti? Go for it. Own and operate a farm? Rebuild an old car? Yep, that too. Get a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Live on the beach. Learn to surf. Get a Masters in Public Health. Climb Mount Everest. I'm not kidding, he wants to do everything. I love that about him, even if the practical side of me is just screaming inside.

But I think Ryan's dreaming has kind of rubbed off on me. I've recently found myself adding a few things to my list of things I would love to do in life. Most people have a 5 or 10 year plan all set out. You know...get married, buy a house in the 'burbs, have 2 girls and 1 boy, all with daddy's eyes and mama's smile. Not me. I really only had one thing on that list before: get back to Uganda. Okay, maybe 2 because I also want like 7 different dogs. Not that I want that many dogs, but...it's just I want so many different kinds of dogs that it's added up to having a bunch. (A smooth Jack Russell, a scruffy Jack Russell, a 2 or 3-legged blind dog (preferably a Poodle, so I can name it ramen noodle and Drake will be it's guide dog) and a Rhodesian Ridgeback...so I guess that's only 5. But chances are I'll fall in love with 2 more dogs during one of my many petfinder searches. Oh. And a bulldog.) Oh, and I want to own a 60s/70s era VW Vanagon. So I had 3 things.

YES! GET IN MY LIFE!

Last week, Ryan and I watched "Contagion." It's a movie about this viral outbreak that ends up killing over 25 million people around the world in like 3 weeks. Kate Winslet plays an epidemiologist who is sent to Minnesota to research the outbreak there, before it gets so full blown. And in the movie, she's going over all these statistics and turning what she sees into numbers, and equations and predictions...and it was so cool. Like it literally blew my mind. I thought about that movie for days and days after watching it. Every free moment I had was thinking about that movie. And considering I had an unexpected week off, I had quite a bit of free time.

I loved Statistics during my undergrad years at Grand Valley. I was going to minor in Stats, but it was going to keep me there an extra semester, and that was not something I wanted to do. I did take a few extra Stats classes though. And thoroughly enjoyed them. I feel like you really enjoy math when you not only understand your professor's math jokes, but you also find them extremely funny. I laughed so much in some of my Stats classes.
Anyways, so now I think being an epidemiologist for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) or WHO (World Health Organization) would be like...the coolest career ever.
(Don't worry, I'm smart enough to know that the job wouldn't be exactly like Kate Winslet's job in Contagion.)

Oh, you know, it's just future me studying a crazy viral outbreak. No big deal.

I've also decided that I want to have a big, old letter-press. And make really beautiful wedding invitations and such. I fell in love with letter-pressed things while planning our wedding, but it was not even close to being in our budget (sad story.)

Ahhh, she's a thing of beauty.

And while we're on the subject of where the heck I would put that massive thing...I want to have my own little creative studio. Even something as small as a shed in our backyard (our rented backyard someday, because I really don't ever want to be a homeowner. (Plus also, I read about how people who are smart with investments these days actually AREN'T buying homes. So booyah. Don't try to talk me into buying a home because I'm so stubborn that it will push me into renting that much longer.)) I will have this beautiful little tiny space that is just mine. With gorgeous natural lighting. And...sigh...I just see it in my head and I love it. I would spend hours and hours out there. Ryan already said he knows he would have to come get me at midnight and I would just be hard at work, loving life.

This picture alone makes me so happy.

And well, since we're talking about out-there dreams, I might as well add that one of my dream jobs is to be the person who makes the gifts that Ellen gives her celebrity guests. Because I would be awesome at that job.
Except for the gift she gave Jonah Hill. I don't know if I could have done that one. Which also happened to be THE BEST HOUSEWARMING GIFT EVER!

The housewarming gift perfected.

I'll have you know that that painting was MASSIVE too. It was like 5'x A lot of '.

So now you're thinking...how are you gonna do all that in one life?
Exactly.

But I also have one more dream, which I've been thinking about for a while after I heard myself say it one day. I was telling Ryan about a fellow Watoto volunteer I know who is living a dream life. She kinda just does what she wants. She didn't go to college, doesn't ever want to. She's single and perfectly content with that...so she just...does what she wants. Goes where she wants. Finds a job that will support here for a while, and then she moves on. Go to New Zealand? Be a nanny/cheese and fruit salesperson? Sure!! Move to Bali? Why not? She literally just wants to do something, and get this...the crazy part...SHE DOES IT.  I want a life like that...a life that's lead by LIVING and not working. I want to work to live and not live to work. I don't really ever want a career, where I work 40 hours/week and have 2 days to "live." Yuck. That sounds disgusting. And so so so miserable. I don't want that. I don't want that. I don't want that.

So mostly, I won't be an epidemiologist even though I think it's like the coolest job ever. And I doubt Ellen will ever hire me to make awesome gifts. But I still could have my creative shed :)

Oh, and 7 dogs.
And my Vanagon.