"Wait til I get my money right!"

As you well know, I am only 22-years-old and middle adulthood is a stage of life that I have yet to reach. Often times I like to consider myself an "old soul" being wise beyond my years; however, after a rude awakening I humbly admit that I have a long way to go.

As I sit here and think about the future and the days ahead of me, if God says the same, I hope to be married with maybe two or three children, at least one of them in college by this time. (Trust me; I'm in no rush to have kids now, so I think I will end up being an older parent). As far as my career, I plan on having my own practice working with troubled youth and the ex-offender population.

At this point of my life, I am already experiencing difficulty with regard to physical changes. My eyesight is horrible and said to decrease in strength as I get older. My hearing is not that great as well. After taking a blow to the left ear approximately one year ago, my hearing has never been the same. With all of this being said, I am quite sure that I will experience great difficulty with regard to physical changes in middle adulthood but now is the right time to prepare for such things.

Erikson explains emotional development of middle adulthood as successful completion of generativity vs. stagnation. At this point, I am certain that my desire to give back to others and sacrifice for the next generation outweighs any personal gains. I believe in wanting to be a counselor to help others help themselves is deeply rooted in this notion of generativity. I have always been this way and that will never change.

Finally, the reason I titled this entry "wait til I get my money right," a lyric taken from rapper Kanye West's multi-platinum album "Graduation," is because during the middle adulthood years of my life, I plan to have my finances in order. In today's society, I believe the only way to do this is to prepare now. We cannot count on social security, but instead we should have alternative means of saving money for after retirement. Also, after the children are off to college, I have been reminded that great savings will come. Even though I know I am going to enjoy being a parent and a lifelong career, this is the point of my life where I plan to become a kid all over again....minus midlife crisis :)....I pray.