In the Future

This next story was a writing prompt given to my English class. Below is the actual prompt.

If all your dreams and plans come true, where will you be and what will you be doing in ten year's time? In one to two pages, describe or explain how your life will be. You might choose a creative format for this such as a magazine interview, 1st person or third person narrative.

I won't lie, I am extremely proud of this essay. It is the best school paper I can remember writing. 

Enjoy! 

            I pull up to the car line and park as I do every Monday through Friday at 3:30.  Usually I don’t have long to wait because the first graders finish school before the other grades, but today they are on a field trip to visit an Amish farm out in the countryside of Pennsylvania. My daughter was so excited to be going to a real Amish farm that when the school bus pulled up this morning she pretty much ran down the front path dragging her little pink back pack through the fall leaves.  My little girl. The six years since she has been born have gone by more quickly than I could have imagined.  I can hardly remember a time without her.

            As the rest of the elementary school comes through the doors my mind starts to wander back through the past fifteen years. First I remember the day my daughter was born. It was the second happiest day of my life. A vision of her beautiful little face blurs the car line ahead of me. I look down and am surprised to find that I am not actually holding her in my arms.  Then I think of the best day of my life: my wedding day. Everything was so perfect and beautiful, with my sister as my maid-of-honor, my parents in the front row, and my husband-to-be standing there in his tux. I remember him saying to me after the reception, “Now, where would you like to live? Our lease ends soon and we can go anywhere after that. California, Texas, Minnesota, anywhere.” We had talked about moving somewhere different before but never anything serious. But at that moment when I looked into his eyes I knew he meant every word. “Pennsylvania,” I said. He looked confused so I told him, “I want to live somewhere with seasons. You know how much I love fall, and Pennsylvania is beautiful every season. Also with my sister, Melanie, living in North Carolina, and my parents in Long Island, Pennsylvania seems like good middle ground. Plus the shore isn’t very far away we could take long weekends to the beach.” 

“As you wish,” he said with a smile quoting one of my favorite movies.

            Just thinking about that day makes me shudder with happiness every time. I think back to when we met in college. I was studying to be an actress at the time, and he studying to be a chef. When we first started dating he would cook for me in the tiny dorm kitchen and help me with my lines for class. I laugh aloud to myself in the car. That dream didn’t come true. At the present I’m at stay at home mom and my husband is fulfilling his dream of owning and being head chef of his very successful restaurant that is paying all of our bills. Of course I have other dream jobs several in fact, but that’s the problem. Which one takes top spot? Which one do I go back to school for? Egyptologist or writer?  I still have no idea, but I have time to choose while we save up the money. The other problem is that the two career paths are so different there isn’t much to do to combine them.

            A rap on my window startles me back to the here and now. It’s my daughter’s teacher holding my daughter herself by the hand. My little girl looks as though she’s about to burst with anticipation. I quickly jump out and walk around the back of our black Subaru Tribeca. As soon as I come into sight my daughter starts jumping up and down saying, “Mommy! Mommy! Guess what? Guess what I saw today?” Hurriedly I thank her teacher for bringing her out to me. Carefully I remove her back-pack and help her into her car seat. She is chattering the whole time about her day at the farm. I know she will continue all though the car ride and the play-by play of her day will start all over again as soon as her father gets home, but I don’t mind one bit. I love hearing about her day.

When we pull into our driveway she is describing the barn cats she saw, and again she asks if we can adopt one of the kittens our neighbor’s cat had. “Well, Daddy and I will have to discuss that some more. Remember what happened to Mr. Fishy?” She is silent for a moment then says thoughtfully, “I think having a pet that’s fluffy will remind me to feed it.” I laugh and we head inside to escape the chilly autumn breeze. Suddenly I am overcome the greatest sense of contentment I have ever felt in my entire life. And even though my career path is uncertain I know that with my family with me I will be able to accomplish anything that life throws my way. I will indeed be able to make lemons into lemonade, or rather apples in to apple cider just like the Amish my daughter so adores.