Dear Future Husband,
Its me again :)
I just realized that I barely told you anything about me, so let me introduce myself.
My name is Alina Hope Troy, I'm fifteen (almost sixteen) and a sophomore at Bridgeport Academy in Seattle Washington. I live with two great parents, and an older sister, Clarissa, in eleventh grade.
I really enjoy writing (hence loving this project so much) and I am a starting midfielder on the varsity field hockey team. I volunteer twice a week and am the vice president of my class. I hope to one day attend Brown University (who knows, maybe I'll meet you there) and then hopefully become a successful gynecologist. My parents think I want to be a radiologist, telling them the truth would earn too much criticism. Its not something you would expect your child to aspire to be, and I have a feeling the proposal would be met with a lot of swaying doubts, but I don't have time to be swayed. I've thought about my dreams a lot and my heart is set. I just don't have time for people to say "Oh, you want to dig around in vaginas your whole life?" or "You have to be on call all the time in case your patients go into labor." Its so much more than that...
Anyway, that's something I feel pretty strongly about, dreams. People these days put down other people just because their dream isn't like everyone else's. People don't realize that they are extremely rude when they try to defer other people's desires. Now that talented singer is going to doubt themselves because you told them their dream was too lofty, that life saving heart surgeon is going to stop trying in biology class because they were told the job would be too much for them, and that entrepreneur is going to stop dreaming up their billion dollar business because you told them they would never get started. How would they feel if people tried to tell them that having a spouse wasn't practical? Or being a salesman was a risky business? Or being a teacher wasn't good enough?
Expectations these days are so unfair, and I don't think people should go by them. People should be able to set their own and not come under fire for it. Look, this is my path, and that's yours, and I respect that.
It's not like they're hurting you by having aspirations.
So how about people stop being jerks and say "Good for you" instead of "Why?" and "How can I help?" Instead of "You should do something else."
I'm going to do what I want to do, whether or not you approve, and I want you to know that I will do the same for you, love. I will support you no matter what.
Xoxo, Alina