The Future Career I Will Never Have

As a general rule I am a big believer in the phrase “Never say ‘Never.’”  I used to say “Never.” After I was proved wrong several times in major ways I now tend to leave ‘never’ out of my vocabulary.

I also remind my students how dangerous it is to say “Never.” I get this often with my seniors.  The last week of the semester before graduation I hear a lot of, “This is my class EVER.  I NEVER have to take another test as long as I live.”  I make a point to laugh very loudly when I hear that and think to myself, “You are going to look back on this in a few years and realize just how wrong you were” (kind of like when I told the blonde study abroad girl to wear sunscreen).

I remember when I was about to graduate from Hopkins and my mom asked me if I would consider grad school in the future.  “Absolutely not! Never! I paid too much for my first degree.  I’m not going to pay an arm and a leg for another one,” was my response.  Well, in the end that was my most pivotal ‘never’ and I couldn’t have been more wrong because I completed not one, but two more degrees after Hopkins.  After making a liar out of myself twice I decided to retire the use of ‘never.’

Last week I revived ‘never,’ temporarily at least.  Two weeks ago I was in Cape Town, South Africa.  I used to live in southern California and I love the beach.  That is one thing I really miss living in a landlocked country.  In Cape Town I met a friend and we decided to go to the beach for a couple of days.  I spent one afternoon surfing.  That night, my travelling companion (who spent the day lying on the beach) looked at my legs and asked what happened to me:

The worst part was that it ruined my pedicure:

Well, one thing is for certain.  I am pretty sure I will NEVER make my living as a professional surfer.