Skipping class

This will have very little to do with adoption, so be forewarned. I'll just get the adoption update out of the way right now. We are having our social worker come out to our house to do a homestudy. Once the homestudy is complete, we can apply for some grants. Yay!

Today is hard to describe. It needs some back story.

During my college days, I had a makeup class that changed my life. Stay with me, it'll make sense soon. About half of the class decided not to show up, so our teacher, Warren decided we were all skipping class. "We're going on a fieldtrip, guys. Grab your bags." We went to The Pie and sat around chatting. The conversation turned to goals and Warren talked about setting THE goal. The big, crazy, outlandish 5 year goal.

"Decide where, in your wildest wishing you want to be in 5 years. Forget about what is achievable or not, just pick the goal," he told us. The group had many offerings including being in Hollywood and other lofty achievements.
"Ok, so what stands in the way of you getting from here to there?" Many of us scoffed at this and suggested that luck had everything to do with it. The next thing he said has been with me ever since.
"Nonsense. Luck has very little to do with it. Most of it is work. You want to be a Hollywood actor? You take classes, you meet people who you need to meet, you do everything you possibly need to do to get that. If you have a goal you want to achieve, you overcome every little obstacle that gets in your way until you open your eyes one day and bam, you've achieved it."
Mind. Blown.

This may not seem like a big deal, but for many years, I had looked at what I wanted out of life with a slightly pessimistic view, thinking that things just "worked out" for some people, but that I wasn't one of those people, probably. I didn't realize that there were no excuses.
I decided on that day that in 5 years I wanted to have launched my own line of wedding gowns. I didn't know much about how to do that. I had no idea how the manufacturing worked out, how to market my designs to shops, or even what a trunk show was. I only knew that I wanted that and had wanted it for a while.

That was just over 5 years ago. Today I have achieved that goal. I launched a small line of wedding dresses that are being carried at the shop I've done alterations for for a few years. It's been more work than I can easily describe. It's been stressful and there were many times when I wanted to give up. I am so glad I didn't. It's not the biggest goal ever achieved, but it's the biggest one I've ever completed. It's not New York fashion week, but it feels just as big to me. Besides, I may just make it to fashion week eventually. After all, I need another 5 year goal.