When I graduate in a year I will probably—almost hopefully—be single. As a member of the LDS community this is a lot different for me then for someone else. Once I graduate I hope to go back to Maryland, get an amazing job in D.C. and pay off my college date. When I originally came here, the freshman year that I dread to look back at, I was a dreadfully, hopeless romantic. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I hoped to fall madly in love and live happily after. That ridiculous and foolish dream was shattered after my first year. I pulled myself out of my reclusive shell and obtained what I call “a life” which consists mostly of working and homework but its better than what I had before—a bunch of crazy dreams or I should call them nightmares. I’m glad that I didn’t get sucked in by some guy who wanted a man to cook and clean for him, luckily I was looked over my freshman year. I became, through work and dating, an independent woman. Of course I still want to get married in the temple and have a family but I realize that there’s more to life then living some lame romantic life with no purpose. I’ve discovered purpose in my life. Journalism, friends, family and making people happy have become a common running theme in my life. I have goals, not goals to fill in for parts of my life that are lacking things, but goals that I truly want to accomplish. When or before I graduate next year I want to learn to dance, perform stand-up comedy in front of an audience, ride a horse, jump out of plane (with a parachute of course), climb a mountain, ride a horse, stick my face in a cake, road trip across the U.S., go to Korea and learn to cook Korean food. I have goals. I want to enrich myself. I want to keep reaching beyond my boundaries and overcoming the things that scare me, because so much scares me. I don’t want to live in fear because fear is just another part of pride. I’ve given up my conventionally romantic ways for something that I think is more sophisticated. These goal are a little grand but they keep me going, keep me moving, give me something to look forward to. I may not know what the futures holds but I know that because I try to reach further every day that it can only be better than what if could’ve been.