Hello world

I never thought that at age 25 I would be married with an 8-month-old son, but here I am. Life's funny like that. It's always throwing you curve balls, and I wouldn't change a thing.

When I came to college at Southeast Missouri State University, I had dreams of grandeur. I'm from a small town of 1,500 people, and I was going to be the next Katie Couric or Diane Sawyer. I was going to move to a big city and be famous and come back to Gower, Mo., and rub it in everyone's face how awesome I was.

Instead of celebrity status, I met my husband at a bookstore, got married exactly a year after college graduation, and got pregnant two months after getting married. And the dreams of grandeur were crushed.

It has been a year and a half since I got married, and eight months since my son was born -- and I would not change a thing about my life. Who would have thought that I would end up here? My mother of course, that's who!

I remember when I was packing to leave for college, and she said that she didn't want me to go because she was certain that I would meet some goat herder and stay in Cape Girardeau forever. Having only been to Cape once for my orientation, she thought any town this close to the Arkansas border consisted of only goat herders. My husband is not a goat herder, but I did end up staying in a place that I was only going to call home for four years. And as much as it pains me to say, my mother was right. I did stay.

I love my life in Cape. I adore my son and love being a mother. Every day something new and exciting happens in his life, which means that it also happens in mine. He has grown so much these last few months; I just don't know where the time has gone. Just yesterday I was looking down at his gorgeous face after he was born, and today he is yelling "Dada" at the top of his lungs as he crawls around the house at full speed chasing our dogs and trying to get a bite out of them. That's right, I said bite. He bit our dog and the dog let him. It's never boring at the Pind house!

As I look back at what my life has become, I have realized that my dreams of grandeur weren't crushed -- they have just changed shape. Instead of aspiring to be a famous journalist, I aspire to be the best wife and mother that I can be, and I enjoy it. My life isn't as glamorous as I once thought that it would be, and I still don't know what lies around the corner, but I'm ready to find out. Stay tuned for the continuing adventures of a first-time mom -- one who's still a girl trying to figure out how her own life fits together. If my life continues to be like what I have experienced so far, I can't wait to see how it ends!

Kristen Pind lives in Cape Girardeau with her husband Max, son Cooper and dogs Banjo and Louie. You might recognize her smiling face from the classifieds desk at the Southeast Missourian.