Keeping My Options Open

Learning How to Let Go Never Gets Easier

I remember being in junior high and taking one of those Scantron career placement tests that were so popular then. You answered a series of questions about your interests, and a computer program — novel for 1987 — would tell you what you should be when you grow up. A few days later, our homeroom teacher went around distributing the results in neat stacks of continuous feed, green lined paper. Being at the end of the alphabet for my entire life, I didn’t think anything of the fact that I was left last. But when my teacher approached me, she had nothing in her hands.

“Gabe, I got a note that says you need to see the guidance counselor for your results.”

After the class’s “ooooh” died down, and homeroom was over, I ambled down to the guidance office to find out what my future held. When I opened the door, I saw the big dot matrix printer running at full steam, a pile of green sheets of paper as high as an arm, gathering on the floor. The counselor, who always spoke like he was auditioning for the part, took one look at me and said, “those are your results; I’ve never seen anything like it.”

It turns out, if you’re interested in nearly everything, you can choose any profession!