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Dilemma: Bloom Where You Are Planted or No?

I've been a fan of that quote for some time: Bloom Where You Are Planted.

You know, make the most of where you are, be all you can be, etc., etc.

But I'm at a real crossroads these days regarding this adage.  I'll be graduating soon with an Associate's in Culinary Arts.  If there's food in the place, that means I can work there.

However, I can't really neglect my other experiences as well...high school and college teacher, writer...I mean, surely there's got to be some job out there that marries those things together, right?

The closer and closer I get to leaving for my internship (little over a month to go), the more I think about what I'm going to do when I come back.  And, honestly, the answer is?  I don't really know.

To illustrate the point, with my school and work schedules being fairly open right now, I contemplated going out for lunch today.  But...here were my options (in an Iowa town of 11,000 people):

*Two Chinese buffet-type places
*A Mexican restaurant (currently under inspection after a recent kitchen fire)
*A mediocre BBQ place
*Two family "homestyle" restaurants
*Three "casual fine dining, sit-down" restaurants (the newest one being my current place of employment)
*The grocery store that contains a Chinese and Italian Express, not to mention a soup and salad bar
*Two pizza places
*Seven fast-food restaurants (two of them being a Subway)

In the end, I opted for staying home and making a Garden Minestrone soup for lunch...and it was good, don't get me wrong...but sometimes, it's just nice to sneak out for a nice lunch when your kids are in school.  And, feeling like it's the sameoldsameold for choices is disheartening.

And circling back to where the blog entry started, I start wondering what it would be like to live in or near a big city where I would have access to many lunchtime spots...and different and unique ones, at that.  And I begin to daydream, nay, fantasize about moving.  Immediately, though, I feel a sense of guilt and disloyalty...why don't I bloom where I'm planted?  Why don't I create something amazing right here in this town where I live?

Why, indeed?  The road ahead will be paved with difficult decisions.

Comments

  1. Becky BrownMarch 19, 2014 at 2:05 PM

    Sometimes, the most terrifying the thing the world is knowing that you can have and do anything.

    I think you made a wise choice with the minestrone. However, you did overlook the bakery, which would have been a very solid choice.

    ReplyDelete

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