Where to Now???

For those of you who followed the original "The Road Ahead" blog across the country and back with Jim and I, you know that the single most exciting event of my life has come and gone. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel an immense loss at being finished with it. I think of that trip every single day. I hear songs on the radio that remind me of driving through the dark New Mexico desert on our way to Roswell or emerging from the Eisenhower Tunnel at 11,000 feet on Hwy 70 through the Rockies. I get in my car every day and remember sitting in the passenger's seat, watching the scenery of our country whiz past. I remember the people we met, the food we ate, the unimaginably beautiful sights we saw. And now it all exists as a memory in my head and in photographs on our walls.

We've had our adventure and now it's time to face "the real world." We knew it would happen. We knew the trip was a last hurrah before real life set in, responsibility took over and adulthood began. But where do I go from here? I have so many ideas, so many suggestions from other people. I wrote a novel. I'd love to see it published and a career formed around writing. Likely? Probably not. I know the percentage of successful writers who live on their writing is scarce. Possible? Yeah. It's possible. But I'm going to work on the "not likely" right now. It's more practical to have a plan B. That's where things get complicated...

I love photography. And as of present, this is Plan B's Plan A. I'm enrolled in a class to learn how to use Photoshop Elements and I plan to take another to learn the ins and outs of my camera at the end of the month. I've had a bit of practice, and I'm told I take pretty good pictures. So I'm exploring that route at the moment. It may not be the most practical either...that's what I'm trying to find out. All I can tell you is that I was insanely jealous of the photographer at the last wedding I went to. I wanted to be her!!!

There are a few other ideas out there, too. My brother's girlfriend seems to think I should open a bakery. I'll admit, it sounds like fun. I'm just not sure my enjoyment of baking produces enough passion to fuel the long days (and nights!) and stress of owning my own business I hear comes with opening such an establishment. I think it would be fun to open a tea house and serve afternoon tea (and baked goods??)  because the area is seriously lacking in a good one these days. I think it would be fun, also, to plan weddings. But again, not an alley I've explored at any length.

With all of these ideas swirling in my head, I feel a bit overwhelmed, like I'm suspended in midair with nothing to grasp onto. It's not necessarily a bad feeling (until the bills come rushing in and I have to pay them on a part time hostess' wages...), but I'd like it to dissipate into something solid.

So wish me luck! Life would be so much easier if it came with a roadmap! Electronics and vehicles come with a manual, why can't we?