Hoops

I can relate to this picture.

Yes, I do own a pair of high-waisted skinny jeans and perhaps when I was young I wore white socks with Mary Janes.  However, the real target of this picture that I relate to is the dog.  Yup, the dog and I have stuff in common.  Real important stuff too.

After starting yet another semester, I can't help but feel like a dog that is forced to jump through hoops.  Mount Royal University is the girl with a hoop and the allusive biscuit, known as a degree, held high in her hands.  And I, Kristen Gibb, am the mere minion of a dog that must jump both high and low through each hoop, with the hopes and dreams of having that biscuit tossed to me in the end.  Each hoop is different.  And some hoops really suck.  Last semester I had to jump through one of those burning hoops, you know the ones covered in flames?  The girl with the biscuit called it "Business Statistics."

After nursing my burns from that "Business Statistics" hoop, I realized that the hoop parade is never going to end.  I also realized that I've been jumping through hoops nearly my entire life.

Back in High School I jumped through hoops to get my lifeguarding certification, taking what seemed like an endless amount of courses qualifying me to both lifeguard and teach swimming lessons.

  I jumped through hoops to get my High School diploma, writing essays, dissecting sheep eye balls, singing in choirs, and so on.

I jumped through hoops to finally get engaged to my best friend, going on dates where I had to buy my own movie ticket, third wheeling, and worst of all, feeling just plain lonely and hopeless.

Girls, good fiances let you take them to thrift stores to play dress-up.

Since making this connection, I've realized that anything big, important, worthwhile, memorable, or just plain good requires the effort of jumping through a couple hoops to get there.  Sometimes the hoops don't make sense.  Sometimes they might look out of your reach.  Sometimes they might be engulfed by flames.  But trust me, in the end, they're always worth jumping through.

So with the start of this new semester, I opted for a hoop I have secretly wanted to jump through for a long time now.  I've always considered myself a closet thespian, so I can see myself thoroughly enjoying the jump through the hoop called "Introduction to the Theater."  I belong in the theater...