“Age is not measured by the number of candles on a cake but by the good moments you have spent so far ”- a saying I read long ago, but it seems so true when one is growing old or rather growing young! Yes, I suddenly felt very young today! I felt on my birthday today that I’m not old, and there are a lot of years ahead of me to dream, to pursue my dreams and make them come true too! As the clock struck 12, and my birthday began, a new trail of thoughts began, young and fresh thoughts, indeed!

I remember when I was a kid, until a certain age, I always thought that I would be a doctor one day. Though I didn’t share my dream with anyone, I knew that this would only be a dream, as I grew up. And for all this, I would blame the Biology textbooks, the difficult terminology they had, and the grouse frog-cutting experiments we did in the lab. No offence to any doctor in the world, I respect doctors a lot! But, becoming a doctor was not for me, and good that I was smart enough to realize that pretty early in life.

Teaching was the last profession that I ever thought of, and ironically, I am a teacher now! I thought that it was boring and stressful job on the face of the Earth. Well, if students felt so bored of the teachers, wouldn’t the teachers be bored of the students too?!! Or so I thought back then! All of a sudden when I was in college, one day when my teacher was explaining a Shakespeare’s sonnet, I fell in love! No, not with the teacher, but with Shakespeare! And that love made me concentrate more in English classes and I was hooked for a lifetime.

After that, all I wanted to study was Literature and all I wanted to do was teach. Now, when I look at children, I feel that I was so wrong when I was in school. It gives me so much pleasure when I’m teaching; sharing knowledge is so gratifying that it reaches the point of addiction.

Today, when I see the kids in the US, I feel that they are as confused as I was when I was their age. But, they have more reason to be confused than I had. They have so many more options here, in this country that it is really a task to decide what to do. I find it amazing that a Commerce student can go on to do his Engineering; an engineering student can become a doctor too. English major can take up Psychology, and a Psychology student can finish his degree in Math. The way the education system is designed in the US, you get to do at least one subject from all fields in your college.

Kids in the US who are really interested go on to fulfill their dreams by following the right educational avenue at any point of their life. It is so amazing for me, how I wish we had such facility back then, back in India. Then, I would have done Math and English together and majored in both. Because, I love Math, but English is my passion! Someday maybe I will make this dream come true too, that is, of doing another Masters in Math!

Well, all said and done, I have still not stopped dreaming! My dream is yet to be realized …my dream of becoming an author of short stories! Another dream of owning a unique school with a different curriculum! Or, another dream of inventing my own recipes and publishing a cookbook for my children and theirs too! A dream of travelling to all the beautiful places in the world with my family, and blogging about them! Dreams! Dreams and more dreams!

As age advances, new enthusiasm dawns, and new wishes erupt out of the mind, and a trail of dreams follow! I feel young today; I want to feel young tomorrow and in all the years to come. All people who know me dearly, my close friends too, know that it is so true of me to be saying this. For, only young at heart can dream and wait for a day for them to be fulfilled.

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep. “