5 Years

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? It's that dreaded interview question that I always wanted to answer with "ever see 'Leaving Las Vegas', I'm thinking of going the Cage route". (For those who haven't seen it, just watch the damn movie, probably the best 'ol Nicholas Coppola has ever done). Well 5 years ago today I took the big plunge and married the most wonderful person I have ever known. This milestone kind of got me thinking, what would the me today say to the me of 5 years ago.



Well, before I can get to what I would say to me, I should probably think a little about where I was 5 years ago. I had already completed my AA in Business, but had only taken a few classes for my B.S. degree, the 'life plan' was basically go get my MBA and then find a good job that I liked (yeah it was that freaking vague). If during our wedding someone had pressed the pause button and said "Hey you, tell me what you're life will be like in 5 years" I probably would have said we'd be living in Portland while I was working on finishing up my MBA at PSU, working Full-time at the big K. I'd have guessed we would have bought a shitty little house somewhere in either SE or up in the Couv, maybe we had a kid, probably I was still feeling really directionless, but hey still plugging away at over educating so I could at least compete for a good job.

Well holy crap would I have missed the mark by a little (maybe more than a little). Let's see, rather than getting an MBA, I'm chasing a different credential, and hoping to become a lawyer, I am live farther from Portland than I ever would have guessed, (the house is WAY nicer than anything we could have dreamed of in P-town too) and I'm intentionally unemployed.

So what would I tell me.

1. December is going to be the scariest thing you will ever experience. Every bad thing that has ever happened in your entire life has prepared you to be strong, it's going to be horrifying but you'll get through it. You'll also realize just how wonderful she really is.

2. Don't apply to so damn many schools, you'll get in to pretty much all of them, and you'll really only consider a couple, save the money.

3. Work an extra week at the big K, believe me it'll be worth it.

4. Spend as much time with friends and family as you can, pretty soon they wont' be 5 minutes away, you'll miss that.

5. I'd give myself a list of people who I shouldn't trust at all, it wouldn't have many names on it (really I can only think of one off-hand) but I would emphasize just how important it is to listen.

6. Don't buy so many dark, heavy clothes. While they served you well in Oregon, they will suck in Arizona, buy more shorts :)

7. Don't drink quite that much on graduation night. Party hard, but try to remember some of it.

8. When you hear that little voice saying 'not yet' while you're looking for a house, and everyone around you is telling you it's the greatest time ever to buy, stick to your guns, they are right, but so are you.

And that seems like a good place to stop. I will say I am really excited to be in the place I am right now and can't imagine doing anything else. It seems like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm grateful to have such a wonderful wife who is supporting me both financially and emotionally through all of this. I won't even guess where we'll be 5 years from now, but as long as we have each other, than I know it'll be where I'm supposed to be.