Going places

Here's a story about a girl who was told she could do anything she wanted to do.

It goes like this.

Once upon a time, D was born in the U.S.--just outside Philadelphia. From the beginning it was obvious that she was ambitious and that she would "go places."

And so she was told "you will go places."

"What places?" she asked.

"Places," they said.

So she grew-up and she went places.

She went to University. She did administrative work. She worked as a tour guide at a haunted house. She thought about going to law school. She ran a law firm. She studied massage and yoga and midwifery. She partied and got tattoos and dated.

She moved to Utah to snowboard. She got engaged. She climbed the corporate ladder. She got unengaged. She was a personal assistant and private chef in Dubai. She got a degree. She wrote for a few newspapers. She started writing a book. And another and another. She bought a 1986 BMW and crossed the country looking. She raised money for causes. She worked with a sustainable farm operation in the rural South.

She got married. She had a baby. She moved to Oregon. She became a life coach. She moved abroad. She started working at a grassroots NGO and as with every phase of her life, she wondered why she hadn't done this her whole life. 

"Okay," she said. "I've gone places. When I was young I was told that I would 'go places' as if that were a destination--as if those places would lead me to a singular place. My place. So, I've gone places. For 40-some years, I've gone places."

"But, you haven't stuck to one path," she was told. 

"Was I meant to?" She asked. "Was that part of 'going places?' That I was actually supposed to go to one place?"

"Yes," they said. "When we told you that you were 'going places' we meant that you should pick a path and stay on that path so that you can get to the top of that place.

"When we told you that you were 'going places' we meant that you should choose a place wisely and then move in the direction of that one place."

"Well," she began slowly. "Why didn't you say that?"