My mama loves the song “This One’s for the Girls” by Martina McBride. She says that it always reminds her of her two baby girls. I love this song, too, because it’s just so upbeat and catchy. Who doesn’t love a sunshiny country song?

Truth be told, my favorite verse is:

This for all you girls about twenty-five
In a little apartment, just tryin’ to get by
Livin’ on, on dreams and Spaghetti-Os
Wonderin’ where your life is gonna go.

I love Spaghetti-Os, especially the kind with meatballs. Ever since I was a little girl I’ve loved them, and my parents kept a few cans on hand. Up here at college, Spaghetti-Os has been the main entree in many of my meals. Spaghetti-Os and a glass of milk: the meal of champions [or, at least, of this aspiring champion].

As a child when I heard “This One’s for the Girls” on the radio, I always secretly wished that verse would paint the picture of my life at the age of twenty-five. There’s just something hopeful in those lyrics, something that reassures hard work will eventually pay off.

Fast forward to about two weeks after my 25th birthday. I realized that my favorite verse had indeed become a fulfilled prophecy. At twenty-five, I entered my last two semesters of my undergrad years. I lived in a tiny apartment (one of the oldest complexes in Rexburg, but one of the most charming, too) with six other girls, and I really was trying to get by with the paycheck from my campus job and money from the GI Bill. By the time I turned 25, my original plan of going to grad school for a master’s degree in English fell through and new plans presented themselves. I really wondered where my life was headed, and dreams of the future kept me on track.

That day, to commemorate lyrics actually describing my life to a T, I made a can of meatball Spaghetti-Os and had a glass of milk.

A part of me wishes I would have made this realization sooner and appreciated it more. How many women can say that verse exactly described that time in their life?

I’m sad that my stay here in Rexburg is coming to a close. For three years Rexburg has been my home, my very own place where I learned and grew a lot. The past week or so as I’ve been trying to whittle down my food supply, one of my main staples has been Spaghetti-Os.

Here’s to dreaming and working hard.