An Elephant in the Room

Ok, two posts in one day.

I've been talking a lot about sexism lately. However, after chatting with an old friend today, I think there's another subject that I don't usually think about or deal with much.

When I come home and I talk with my best friend from high school, I remember this "elephant." She's an incredibly bright, lovely, large hearted human being. When things got tough in high school, we always had each other. When things got tough in college, she was the person that I called crying at 2 AM. She was the one who called me crying about her abusive boyfriend. We often have very long periods of time where we don't talk.

But then we meet up, and it's as if no time went by. We laugh, we gossip, and do our usual get together activity. However, there's always been a large elephant in the room about the differences in the levels of education.

Comparatively, I've had a *much* easier time in life. While I've worked many different jobs while in college, I never had any fear about not being able to eat the next day. She's worked two FT jobs, supported a husband who wasn't acting as a partner, had to go to soup kitchens, and had other various life events along that line. She's an incredibly strong woman. I'm lucky to have her.

Today, we were talking about kids. We both really want them. She really wants them now. She's been married almost a year. She's talking about having one within the next year. She's got a steady job, she and her 2nd husband are getting along splendidly, and she's mentally prepared for it. I'm so lost by this concept. I have no time for it. Unless someone decides to speed up the whole nine months into about a week, there's no way this will be happening within the next 5 years. Plus, I want to spend enough time with my kids. We both simultaneously understood and didn't understand each other on these viewpoints.

I'm getting a little lost with where I was going. I suppose I could sum this whole conversation up with the fact that I'm sometimes frustrated with the limitations of the career path I've chosen, but that I am grateful for the education that has allowed me to not experience the same hardships as my BFFH (best friend from home). She's a great person to talk to about this sort of stuff, since she's great at essentially slapping me awake about issues I don't usually think about. Everyone should have someone like my BFFH in their life.

Uh, ok. What now?

Ok. I've gotten home. My shit all got shoved into the car with my family. There are many boxes in the living room, and much crap in the room that will be vacated by the end of July.

Between a two week family vacation and leaving by the end of July (that's when I've arranged to start early on advice from grad students there), there's absolutely no way I can get a job other than perhaps a few babysitting gigs. So as far as I can tell, I'm here in HomeCity with little to do.

I'm going to try and make the most of it. Here's some plans:
1. Spend time with my sister before she goes abroad in the fall
2. Spend time with my parental units
3. Plan train trip with good friend to OurFriendsCity
4. Hangout with the BFF when she moves to my neck of the woods for grad school :)
5. Get driver's license (I've always lived in a decent area for public transportation, but no more!)
6. Give away craptons of my stuff
7. Read some books that I've always wanted to read
8. Arrange housing/confirm starting early
9. Go to some baseball games
10. Bake with the ex-roomie
11. Get up to 10 mi in my runs
12. Hang with the boy more before I leave
13. Start studying for entrance exams
14. Read papers for first lab
15. Go on a few "by myself" adventures

It's going to be a crazy summer!