My Peace Corps journey ended (for now) on Monday, March 7. After a lot of thinking and struggling, I've come to terms with the fact that the Peace Corps is not the right thing for me at this stage in my life.
Music is too much a part of me and things in this career field are going too well to leave at this point. I went into my Master's program hoping to fall back in love with choral music... and I have. Hardcore. I am the luckiest man alive to spend a significant portion of my life creating joy and beauty through the choral art. It's what I'm good at. It's what gets me up in the morning. It's what brings me joy. It's what I do.
I hadn't heard from the Peace Corps in a long time, so in February I called the D.C. placement office inquiring about my application. I got an e-mail informing me they wanted me to complete a minimum of 30 hours of training in Teaching English as a Second Language. This got me thinking: why would I push myself to add more to my plate (on top of trying to leave this Master's program with my sanity and all my hair) to do something I'm not passionate about. Now, I'm not saying that I'm god's gift to choral conducting... but I'm good at what I do. And I'm excited about it. And I can make a living in it-- now.
The long and the short of it is that this just isn't the right time for me to go to Africa for 27 months. It will be someday. Just not now.
So... now the next dilemma-- the job search. Eek.
Here's to diverting and diverging paths!
