Sometimes the Path You Are On Changes

When I decided to go back to college, I was 26 years old. I had started working immediately after graduating from high school. I wanted to go to college but I had no idea what I wanted to be.

When I was in grade school, they gave us one of those tests that tells you what occupation you try. The test said I was well suited to be a teacher or a nun. I didn't become either.

I think that is why I started working because after high school, I had no clue what I would do. I lived in Los Angeles and thought I would live there forever. Working gave me a different perspective on life. It made me more responsible and organized. It also made me realize that I needed to go back to school.

I started slowly going to a community college. It was the right decision. It was a whole new adventure and it opened my eyes that I could be anything I wanted to be. After taking standard courses, I found that I had a knack for writing. I was always a good writer when I was in high school but now I knew I could make a living at it.

When I finally decided to go to a four-year university, I knew that I would study Journalism. I moved to Miami and attended the University of Miami. I studied Journalism and Latin American Studies. I finally got my degree in Communications in 1994.

I worked for an airline magazine for year after I graduated. It was interesting work. I wrote travel stories and also translated Spanish stories into English. I enjoyed the work but it never paid enough. It was then that I had no idea what I was doing.

At that moment, I realized that maybe I made the wrong career choice. I was wondering if I should go back to Los Angeles and become a TV writer. I thought about moving to Hawaii and becoming a tour guide. There was so many roads I could have taken: a playwright in New York, a life coach in Baltimore, an editor in Chicago, a writer in Maine, a showgirl in Vegas. I had no idea where my road would lead.

In the end I stayed in Miami. I gave up journalism but never gave up writing. I ended up stumbling into my current profession: fundraising. It is so different from where I started but it was a good choice. My degree in Communications has come in handy.

In fundraising you have to know how to communicate well with donors and volunteers. You have to know how to write grants, proposals, sponsorship packages and letters. You have learn how to tell a story and sell your organization's story to people. I really enjoy it.

I didn't write for years after my job at the magazine. I would write short stories here and there but nothing major. At work, my only writing outlet was writing stories for our newsletter. It wasn't until 2009 when I started this blog and my personal blog that I found my love of writing again. I love writing and, although I didn't become a famous journalist, I am okay with that.

Life is funny that way though. When you think you will do one thing, it turns around and puts you on a different path. And who knows, maybe one day I will finally finish the novel that is in a file on my computer.