Loving School

When I was thirteen years old I dropped out of school, I then went back at age fifteen to only drop out again when I learned I was pregnant with my eldest child. After his birth I was motivated to go back and get my diploma because I wanted to set a good example for him. As the years passed I always had regrets about dropping out and not having had the full-time school experience. And soon I would find out it was more than just the experience I felt I missed out on, I would soon learn my regrets were more about my direction in life and the bad choices I made at such a young age.

Seventeen years later…..

I am on week three of College for my AAS in International Baking and Pastry Chef and possibly something else right after that. I am absolutely loving it! I can’t believe it took me so long to get here, but I am so happy I just did it. No more excuses. It’s kicking my butt intellectually having to focus so much but it is so worth it.

For years I had talked about opening my own restaurant, being my own boss and creating beautiful dishes. As my passion for food grew I found a new niche for baking and pastries, while I for some crazy reason am not compelled to eat the sweets I found immense satisfaction in creating dishes for others. It was hard to pin point what direction I really wanted to take my life in; because I enjoy so many other activities like photography, design, event planning and writing among other things. But in the end I realized the kitchen is where I want to be and I made it happen.

My visions are becoming more and more clear with each day, and now my ideas and plans are expanding and multiplying. It’s only been three weeks and yet my mind is filled with fantastic new goals and visions for my future. I know I will be successful, I now have no doubt. It will take a lot of hard work and dedication but I know that I will succeed. This one huge step towards my dream was all I needed to set into motion all the wonderful things my future holds.

I have an awesome Chef Instructor! He may be a little OCD, but so am I. Maybe that’s why I like him so much, he is thorough and engaging and brings out the best in everyone in the class. My classmates work well together we have become a great team. I am not only learning, I am having a blast at the same time!

This was my group tonight in lab, we made biscuits. We had a ton of fun!

 

Making my dream come true!

This has been some year for me, I have truly found myself and allowed myself the freedom to truly accept what direction I wanted to take my life in. Since I was a teenager I have dreamed of owning my own business, anyone who know me and especially those close to me know that I am gifted when it comes to the food, I love the kitchen. The kitchen has always been my favorite room in the house, I love everything about it, from the dishes to the stove with the exception of cleaning it. I hate cleaning the kitchen!

For a long time I talked about opening a restaurant, that was all I could imagine myself doing but I always had an excuse when it came time to get down to business. I tried to push myself to study  other subjects but always found my way back to food. Several years ago I began baking at home, I am a make everything from scratch kinda girl but baking from scratch was new to me. I decided I would give it a try, I started with cookies and muffins. Later ventured into cakes, then cake decorating and breads. I would get excited just looking at beautifully decorated pastries, it was so natural to me. It’s weird because I am not a fan of eating sweets, breads on the other hand are a difficult subject for me because I can’t get enough of them.

Life continued on and I kept telling myself it would happen one day. Well, one seemed to never arrive and I just kept putting it off. My life was already so hectic, a working mom with all these kids how would I ever find the time, right? I went to tour the a school for culinary several years ago thinking that was the direction I wanted to go in. During the tour I walked by students working on Pastry decorating and it stopped me in my tracks. It was very emotional, I felt like I wanted to cry. The person giving me the tour looked at me and said, “Well, it looks like you have found your calling “. After that I knew that I wanted to be a Baking and Pastry Chef, I  registered but never started school. I soon found out I was expecting again and Sophie’s health had begun to really get complicated. The timing was just not right but I beat myself up for a while feeling like I had given up.

I finally made the timing right, I made the decision to finally do this for myself, for my family and our future because I know in my heart this is where I will be successful. It was a tough decision because I will rarely be home, but it is a sacrifice worth making. If I kept making excuses I would never find the right time because let’s face it my life will always be busy and complicated.

Today was my orientation day through it all I wanted to cry, I was so happy. It was such a liberating feeling with no guilt attached.  I start college next week and for the next 18 months I will be busting my butt to be the best I can be because I am going to make my dreams come true.

Yes I waited until I was 35 to go back to school but there is also a lesson to be learned. We often make excuses to avoid facing those things we are afraid of and it doesn’t matter what age you are. Dreams can always come true but you have to make it happen. I am making my dream a reality.