five years and counting

This past Saturday I attended my 5-year college reunion. About 50 of my classmates gathered in the twilight under the watchful eye of the landmark Trinity tower to reminisce, share stories from our evolving personal and professional lives, and marvel at how much has changed on the campus that was our home from 1996 to 2000 (or in some cases, ‘til 2001). President Brazil made a cameo appearance to welcome us back and thank us for our “class gift”. For someone like me who has yet to have or implement a career plan of any kind, it was comforting to converse with classmates whose careers have been characterized by confusion, change, or chaos so far…(wow, that was a lot of alliteration). Many people are avoiding grad school because of indecision or lack of motivation, leaving their original fields of interest in favor of new pursuits, or biding their time in one job until they figure out what it is they really want to do with their lives. What a great reality check. Somehow I had managed to convince myself that I was in the minority in experiencing all of those things—and that not having a clear direction and a Masters by age 30 would be a terrible waste of the talent my professors told me I had back in the day. Despite my confidence in my current vocational calling to Nicaragua, I still find it difficult sometimes to avoid measuring the quality of my life by the standards of others. I wonder if it’s any easier to avoid such unhelpful comparisons in developing countries…