Equal and Opposite Reaction

Not sure yet if the title has anything to do with the post other than I am avoiding having to study for physics.
I think about where I am now, and where I was a year ago, hell I can even think about where I was 2 years ago.
This time 2 years ago I was starting to get worried about finding a job. Here I was sitting with a degree which was useful and I had no bites on a job. I wanted a job, so bad. I was ready to start my post grad life. I had a 2 year plan. Land a job that paid reasonably well (I was hoping to make $27,000 after taxes) and save as much as possible for 2 years then use the savings as a down payment on a house somewhere close to home but in the next county over. I was pining over J who had kissed me 2 nights before I graduated and then basically became smoke in the air. I was looking forward to a new start and anxious to get it started.
This time last year I had a job, one that DIDNT pay me what I had been hoping for, but it was a job in the size firm that I was hoping for but I was learning that it wasnt necessarily leading where I wanted it to. I was an intern, after busting my buns during tax season. I had failed all 4 parts of the CPA exam and I was learning that what I had learned in school was not what I was practicing in real life and that maybe, just maybe I didnt want a desk job for the rest of my life. I was talking to this really great guy, G, who kept me up to the wee hours of the morning just because we had so much to talk about. We had what my friends referred to as cyber dates where we watched the same movie at the same time and talked about it- cute, no? And I was anxious to SEE G. Talking was great, but I wanted to spend time with him.
This time this year I am back in school working on prerequisites for and applying to vet school. G and I "dated" for a couple of weeks - and I put that in quotes because it was only so short. I still think the world of him and recently we have sort of started talking a bit, but not NEARLY as much as we did last year. I am learning the difference between being a friend and being someone a person is interested in- its a learning experience, for sure. I dont think I ever recognized before the difference- maybe because I generally cycle people (ahem J and I). I saved a fair amount of money, but spent it all on a 2.5 week trip to Ireland and Scotland and a new puppy instead of keeping it around for a down payment on a house. I have a new dream, a new 5 year plan, and things that I wanted to happen sooner rather than later are getting pushed to later- I'm talking a serious romantic relationship and (eventually) kids. OH and this year I have a new nephew! So may changes, but only now am I really realizing it. Even 7 months ago, I didnt know I would be where I am now, I love it- well sort of. I am excited to be on this journey to what I think will be a more fulfilling life, but I miss a regular paycheck and being able to be "done" with the day at 5pm. Oddly enough though. And! My dad is retired, another change.
Looking forward to this time next year, with any luck I will be moving away from home- like at least 4 hours away- with my 2 dogs and I will be embarking on a 4 year journey through vet school. I will be missing the early teen years of my nieces and some of the formidable younger years of my nephews but I know that, really, I will be showing them something more valuable than they will recognize at the time. I will be showing them that even when it means leaving everything that you know, you can and should chase the dreams chase the things that will, in the long run, make you happy. These are lessons that their parents wont be able to instill in them and that grandma can only tell them about. Its me, who will be the example. By doing what I am doing, I am showing that what you think you will like doesnt have to be your ultimate lifetime career. There's so much riding on vet school. I feel the pressure every day, I carry all of those weights with me, every day, but I know in the end it will ALL be worth it.
And since Im here, why dont I look 5 years down the road? With any luck, I will have graduated from vet school. I imagine I will come back close to home to be with the kiddos. The girls will be 16 and 14. The boys 12, 10 and 5. And my beloved Payton, if we are lucky will be 14 and still kicking. Perhaps my mom will own the clinic and I will work with her, like I have for so much of my life and maybe, if I am really lucky, I'll be able to start think about starting a family of my own.
I know that life rarely works out the way we plan, but if nothing else works out, I hope, really hope that I get into vet school.