My mother and her boyfriend would always end up fighting over me, or in reality BECAUSE of me, which I'm sure has nothing to do with my child-like antics and devious schemes to rid him of my life. I hated her and I especially despised him. He came into my family shortly after my maternal grandmother passed away from cancer and my father was arrested (two separate incidents). I felt like my mom was trying to replace love lost with love found on match.com. And I really resented that whenever I gave a sarcastic response to one of his (I deemed) prying questions he would always retort with something better. However, my sophomoric mind was bound and determined to make my mother break up with him so I'd never have to hear his voice again. Well one day a fight ensued between him and my mom over how he treated me while I was arguing with him. The argument spurned from a news interview with the Governor of Minnesota. I rolled my eyes at the fact that he was the governor of a fly over state; states that you fly over but never actually go to (not to offend anyone from Minnesota). He said, and I am paraphrasing, all teenagers are disrespectful and spoiled and they don't know anything about this country and I know more and I'm from India. My mom was so mad with him for attacking my personal character (which he did, but I left the heavy stuff out) by comparing it to other teenagers that she almost broke up with him, and I was almost happy. The break up however did not occur and I was disappointed yet again with the universe. Not a little while later my mom posted a status on Facebook saying "If you could do or be anything in this world and there was no way you couldn't succeed, what would you do/be?" After reading some of the other answers like a better nurse or a Wall Street broker, I was about to right down what, at the time, I wanted to be (which was a lawyer). However being the sarcastic person I am and seeing an opportunity to throw a dig at her boyfriend I wrote, "I'd be the Governor of Minnesota". Another fight ensued, but they still didn't break up and I still wasn't happy. A few months later I accepted my paternal grandparents' invitation to vacation with them, mostly because I just had to get away from the "love-birds' nest", and I went on a cruise throughout the South Caribbean and stayed in Puerto Rico (my paternal grandmother's birth place) for a while. On this trip, I had come to the realization of three things. One, I really, really, really wanted to be happy. Secondly, my mother is my mother and I will always love her no matter what and how could I say I loved someone if I didn't accept their "soul-mate". Even if I didn't like her boyfriend, I would eventually come to respect him and even admire his more witty qualities. Now the third thing I learned on this trip was that I really didn't want to be a lawyer ( or the governor of Minnesota for that matter, although I was truly thinking about it for a while there) because, although the type of lawyer I wanted to be would bring justice to victims of crimes, I truly wanted to make a difference and impact the lives of people that need it most. In addition to the fact, that I really hated the idea of working in an office environment. I love travelling; I love it so much that I have to incorporate it into what I want to do with the rest of my life. While trying to figure out what college major I wanted, I came across some old college letters and one of the majors listed was comparative human development, the study of people simply living. Now a combined major of this and a minor in human rights equals a job opportunity to help those in other countries that need it the most. Sex trafficking, drug cartels, ancient cultures, human biological phenomenon--the boundless world of things I could delve into and be happy while doing it. I found my x, my happiness.