Tag Archives: Patterson

Who Will You Be?

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10

Ever since I was wee I have found these 10 words to be the creators of an extremely broad, limitless path; ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’  Whether it would be a teacher, coach, family member, or someone who was simply curious would look me in the eyes waiting for my response I would just sit there, quiet & absorbed. Yet my mind was racing, my heart pounding. It was as if someone had injected me with an electric tonic that made a movie of every dream I’ve ever had play vividly right before my eyes. How can one narrow this movie into one scene? One scene where we find ourselves happy, successful, & truly alive? 

In elementary school I dreamed of being a zoologist. I would spend hours in the school library during recess reading about Dr. Francine “Penny” Patterson, the woman who taught Koko the gorilla sign language. I wanted to do the unthinkable.

I then found my passion on the field, playing the beautiful game of Fútbol, or ‘Soccer’. I knew I wanted to pursue a future in the game, and I knew I wouldn’t stop until I could no longer physically play. That day came and I cried, I grew, and I moved forward.

Shortly after, I discovered my young soul might lack in math class at times, but never in passion. I began to express myself by writing and fell in love with the joy of the American language. That is when I knew that whatever I decided to ‘be’ when I ‘grew up’ would entail communicating, helping, embracing, learning from, and loving people. Not just my kind of people, or the right type of people, but people in general. I want to be educated on all walks of life, free of judgement, & far from ever being ‘satisfied’. And at the end of the day, I’ve come to realize that it isn’t ‘what’ I will be, but who I will be. I hope to be remembered by the love that often makes me feel like I could explode, & the things I do to create that in others.
“Every day I discover more and more beautiful things.
It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.”