Taking Opportunities by Rachel Raffino

As the daughter of a pilot, it’s safe to say I’ve held a few more monkeys, zip-lined over a few more jungles, and rode a few more donkeys along the beach than the average 15 year old. But I’ve only taken about an eighth of the amazing opportunities that I could have had. And the the main reason why this is, is school. Often times I will be invited to join my dad on trips to Europe, Mexico, tropical islands etc. and I always say "I can't." And his response is always a classic look of confusion. I explain to him that I "have a big history test coming up" or "I can't miss another Russian class I've already missed too many." But what I've realized is that 10 years from now I won’t remember having to go in for lunch to make up a test, or finishing up work I missed for an extra hour one night. I’ll remember the feeling of a parrots claws digging into my head, or buying souvenirs from local artisans, or climbing the stairs to the Anne Frank house. Kate Fontes explains that “school work can always be made up, but opportunities to travel and be with our families don’t come around all the time.” Morgan Saulys said that “one day the cities you visit may be gone and you would be sad you never went to visit them, and made great memories.” Mrs. Kopp shared with me a story about how she was nervous about missing a few days of school to take her kids to Disney World, but went on to say that it was the best decision she could have made. Dosomethingcool.net tells readers to “say yes more often, because great opportunities often come from your own great ideas so don’t say no to them. If you’re negative about yourself, you’ll just limit your own options. This is not a good state of mind to be in. Even though life is the longest thing we do, it’s still much too short to say “no” to things. Too short to spend time worrying about missing a day of work or school, when there's four corners of the world to explore containing a new adventure and new stories in every direction. So to quote one of my favorite disney movies, "adventure is out there," waiting for me to find it.