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Personal Narrative: After High School

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I was a freshman in high school when I realized I was missing something, and no it wasn’t a boyfriend. Out of all the questions I was asked in high school, “What are you doing after high school?” was asked by a margin wider than Ronald Reagan’s popular vote in the presidential election of 1984. I was asked relentlessly by multiple teachers through out my high school career and I was always at a loss for a reply. I didn’t know what I wanted to be and I wouldn’t figure it out for a long time. High school was exhausting for that reason alone. All of my friends and peers were constantly talking about what they wanted to be and what their dream school was. Things like dentistry, nursing and physical therapy were included in ninety percent of the …show more content…

I changed my mind so often and dramatically that my father lost faith I would ever follow through with a plan. I suppose I would have, too, if I were in his shoes.
He heard only a fraction of the ideas and they began when I was a sophomore. I told him, “I want to be a firefighter.” I was influenced by a research essay I wrote and I was desperate to prove I was as strong as a man. The year after, I changed my mind after I witnessed a presentation from a marine.
It was then that I told my dad I would enlist in the military. I figured I could give back to a country that gave me everything I’d known and take the time to figure out what I wanted. So I worked out 5 days a week and gave up all kinds of food. I didn’t have McDonald’s, ice cream or pop for eight months while I was physically training my body. At first I thought I found where I belong but I still couldn’t feel it. I never got a reassuring epiphany so I decided it wasn’t for …show more content…

If everything goes well you’ll be given a tuberculosis test and start next week!” I got all the details and headed to the office in the next town over. I was asked questions by a thin blonde woman. “Are you afraid of poop? Pee? Throw up?” I thought it was silly that those were serious questions. I was clearly in the wrong field and office if I was going to be bothered by such things.
After the questioning, I was given a shot in my arm and told to come back in three days. The tuberculosis test works that way, you get the shot and if it forms a bump, you’re infected. If it doesn’t, your body absorbs the fluid and you’re good to go. I came back to the office without a bump and I was given my first schedule.
The first week was trying and discouraging. I was overwhelmed and frustrated. I realized how dependent a person can become once they grow old or become paralyzed. I learned how to use machines to get a person out of bed when they can’t use their own legs and arms. I gave people showers and bed baths. I brushed teeth and dentures. I changed diapers and got people dressed. I had to do these things to make someone’s day possible. I could do all of those things for myself in ten minutes but it took hours for these people. It opened my eyes to how dense my daily life

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