Yep, a ‘Proud Pop Moment’.
My recently graduated Girl Child was accepted into the Peace Corps. I always knew she wanted to help the world.
An honestly good thing...
I admit to being a bit hesitant to her quest for this. She has, in the past, had a naïve moment or three. She wants to see the entire world, not giving a care to the realities of where she wants to go.
An example –
Her university partners every year with a foreign government to do a study project — economic or political. The selected students do tons of research, seeking solutions to the issue presented by that foreign government, and culminating in the students going there for a week to present their findings. A couple years ago, Girl Child came home saying she desperately wanted to do that. She said the students the year prior went to Thailand. Knowing her penchant for acting emotionally on travel issues, I asked where this year’s project would be. “I don’t know!”, she replied, “…I think it’s in Syria*.” Whoa… stop the train, dear girl.
So, when she talked about going to the Peace Corps, I was picturing her requesting Somalia (“…to help those poor pirates…”) or some such. Still, I supported her self-nomination process**.
But, here she is. Accepted. Off to help others. In South Africa.
I’m so damn proud of her.
And, damn right, I’m going to go visit her when she gets settled in.
=-=–=-=-=-=-=
*Noted for not only being aggressively anti-American, but for being rather severely sexist towards women. Not a good place for a young, American girl to go.
**Peace Corps selection is a notoriously long and painful process. Plan on at least a year and be prepared for getting no feedback in the interim. Frustrating.
Tags: Girl Child, Peace Corps, Proud Pop, when did she grow up so quickly?
The Wilds of Ohio 
July 8, 2009 at 09:17 |
Well congrats to her and don’t forget to take pics when you are there.
July 8, 2009 at 10:39 |
how awesome is she..being naive is fleeting..it will pass..best wishes to her.
on a side note..I’ll let you know all about Syria when I get back. Not totally anti-american nor is it sexist against women(ameirica’s great friends the Saudis still kill women for things the government ie.the king deems wrong–doesn’t happen in Syria)..that is just how our government protrays it. Obama is doing the right thing by opening the channels again.
July 8, 2009 at 13:24 |
I would have opted for Somalia myself. Far more exotic, those pirates. Hope she finds lots of good adventure x
July 8, 2009 at 19:13 |
this is exciting! gonna be life changing – probably for you, too. when my daughter went around the world in 100 days and lived her big adventure, she came back a different person in many ways. and i learned how to let go. yours will grow so much… very cool!
July 9, 2009 at 06:49 |
Always good to see some young people still have idealism, and aren’t out to make their first million by the age of thirty. You done good raising her.
July 9, 2009 at 13:19 |
Anniegirl – already looking at nicer cameras. Mine is okay, but 3-plus years old.
hisqueen – cool. Thanks for clearing up my misconception about Syria.
miss p – sounds like you’re the type who would play with nukes because they’re loud and make a pretty fireball
daisyfae – a great endorsement for letting your kids go on adventures. Thanks. I’m seeing only good stuff coming from this.
Silverstar – yep, they still exist. And she’s making up for my mis- spent youth of being an isolationist (i got better)
July 10, 2009 at 07:46 |
How did you guess? 😉
July 10, 2009 at 08:14 |
she sounds like a lovely girl
August 18, 2011 at 20:13 |
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