A somewhat lengthy explanation of the bend in the road

(An addendum to my last post...)
Cousin Marie: So what is your goal in writing this blog?
Obvious Answer: Try to take over the world!
Not-so-obvious-Answer: Nothing deep or profound (though goodness knows I try to be both as much as possible, and occasionally succeed...emphasis on occasionally).

Here's my (long-winded) explanation (hem hem, the political science way) for the blog newly christened "a bend in the road."

Fellow Anne Shirley fans will recognize the title of this blog from a conversation that Anne has with Marilla, at the end of the book Anne of Green Gables. For those not so familiar, here's an excerpt from the last chapter, also titled "The Bend in the Road" of the aforementioned book:

"I'm just as ambitious as ever. Only, I've changed the object of my ambitions...I mean to study at home here and take a little college course all by myself. Oh, I've dozens of plans, Marilla...I shall give life here my best, and I believe it will give its best to me in return. When I left Queen's [College], my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best does. " - Anne of Green Gables

A year ago, my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road: take the LSAT, apply to law school, go straight to law school after undergrad, take the Bar, become a lawyer, get married, have 2.5 children and a nice dog, send them off to their sixteen years of school, retire, travel, and then die. (Sounds morbid, but accurate).

One crisp and cold evening last year, I was walking the perimeter of the Law Quad with my dearest Charlotte Wu. As we circled around and around, she asked me why I wanted to be a lawyer. It seemed that for every reason I gave her, she found some sort of counterargument (which made me think that it should have been her that aspired to be a lawyer, and not me!). It was through those probing questions that I realized that I wasn't so sure about why I wanted to do what I said I wanted to do after all.

Thinking about all of that gave me cold feet, and incidentally, I happen to not be in law school right now. This is my bend in the road. Certainly isn't where I pictured myself after April 26, 2008. Like Anne, I'm hopeful that the best lies out there. I guess while figuring all of that out, this is what this blog is for.

And now Ariele and I are going to play Wii Fit with our cousin Jesse, and visit with his very pregnant sister Christine and her husband Matt. Next post will probably be about Christine and Matt's son, "Bear," who is due to come into the world supposedly tomorrow. (But I am betting on the 17th). Thanks for reading!