I know I’ve already done a post called 7 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me, but these blog memes keep coming around, and after reading Alex Fayle’s twist on it, Seven Little Somedays You Didn’t Know About Me, I couldn’t resist giving it another go.

1.    As a young child, I wanted to become a teacher when I grew up. I suspect it was because most of the women in my life were housewives, so the only career option for females that I was really aware of was teaching. Many years later, as I was finishing up my degree in French, I applied for the B.Ed. program, but withdrew from the process, even after I’d already gone to the trouble of getting references from my profs and having a TB test. I don’t think I was ever really into it.

2.    When I was a preteen, I started to write a novel. I don’t think I got past the first chapter, but it was a teenage romance called Allan Loves Sandy.

3.    I really wanted to be a translator. When I was in school, the closest university with a translation program was in Thunder Bay, 1400 km from home. Back then, not only was I the same introverted homebody that I am today, but I’d never been away from home, and I couldn’t even imagine going so far away. Glendon College (the bilingual York University campus which I attended) only offered one single course in translation, and it wasn’t offered when I was in 3^rd year, so I decided to return for a fourth year just so I could take it. Of course, that wasn’t adequate to get me a translation job, but it did get me a bilingual customer service position which involved translating some business correspondence. Unfortunately, it was very repetitious, and as I got promoted into other positions, I found myself using my French less and less.

4.    I almost went for a Masters degree in French. I had no idea what I would do afterwards, but saw staying in school for another year as a way to postpone making a career decision. I was accepted into the program, but never went through with it.

5.    I later considered going for a Masters degree in social work. While I was working for the provincial government, I really wanted to be a vocational rehabilitation services (VRS) counsellor, but the job spec stipulated that you had to have a Masters degree, and I was really hesitant to invest a lot of time and money with no assurances I’d be offered a position at the end. I had no desire whatsoever to work in any other area of social work. It’s probably just as well, as the provincial VRS program was shut down ten years ago, so who knows what I’d be up to these days.

6.    In the 1990s, I  created my first website, called “Jan’s Helpful Home Page.” I posted household management tips and invited people to send me their challenges, and I was so excited when I actually received an email. My interest quickly waned when the person didn’t respond to my email asking whether my suggestion was helpful.

7.    Scott and I were going to take a trip to Italy to celebrate our 10^th anniversary. I think we ordered a pizza instead.

This exercise brought to mind one of my favourite poems.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

I don’t see my “roads not taken” as unfulfilled dreams, but examples of the things I thought about before I really knew who I was and what I wanted from my life. For the most part, they didn’t represent actual desires, but were simply what I thought I should be doing.

What directions did you go before you landed on your current path?

If you decide to do this exercise, please leave a comment so we can read your answers!