When I dream these days, I want my eyes to be wide open, I don’t want to sleep through it.

It might sound crazy but I want to see everything, good, bad and indifferent.

When I dream, I dream big

Because I have the eyes to see that there is something more than what’s in front of me

My mom said to me, “As long as your last name is Balogun, life will never be easy” at a young age

My dad told me, “All I want for you in this life is to be smart, financially stable, and successful”

I never saw my parent’s struggle growing up but when I got older they explained to me,

That they gave me and my brother everything they had and they push us to be better  

They set me up at a young age to be prepared for the harsh reality that I was going to have to face.

I realized that dreaming with closed eyes made me hit the ground harder when I fell.

 

My dream was to be Successful.

I wasn’t really sure how I was going to be that but I knew that was all I wanted 

I didn’t want to be famous, I wanted success.

I wanted to be achieved; I crave achievements

I want to be more than Kemi Balogun the Black/Nigerian girl coming out of Buckeye, Arizona.

 

My dream was to be “Ms. Boss Lady”

I want the navy blue, black and grey suits, with the classic accessories to go with it,

The heel pumps that clacked as I walked into the office with my head held high,

The frantic assistants handing me files and coffee, filling me in on my schedule for the day,

And last but not least the big corner office that only the most important people could have.

I wanted to be a top dog and handle business and remembered for being better than my circumstance

 

I want all of that stuff

So I dream with my eyes open because this is what I really want

No falling this time, I have got to have it and ever since Law Camp in 2010 I knew how to get it

A Lawyer now THAT is a career that will give me everything I have been dreaming about 

The success, the respect, the financial stability, achievements for a life time, the office,

And I cannot forget the wardrobe! I want to be a gladiator, No scandals though…

The dream of being a lawyer ,

When I realized that this was what I was sticking to, it felt like the missing puzzle piece being found

It felt right, it felt like something that would take all of my best qualities and put them to good use.

Oh but wait, you know there is always honey before the hatchet

 

I want to go to College to Become a Lawyer!

Pre-Law (Bachelor’s), LSATs, Law School (Master’s), Bar Exam

Approximately eight years of school plus the bar exam

Not to mention a minimum of 250,000 dollars and that’s if I go to cheap colleges

But let’s be honest, who will really choose a lawyer who graduated from UNKNOWN University

Over someone who graduated from Yale, Harvard, or Princeton …don’t worry I’ll wait for an answer…             ….…

 

I want to afford college!

I am a student at Grand Canyon University, working on my Bachelor’s degree

Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy getting here!

If it weren’t for scholarships, grants, loans and prayer I would have been working this year

Not at a university, but at a community college trying to save enough to take the first steps to my dream

My mom did say, “As long as your last name is Balogun, life will never be easy”

So I learned how to accept that sometimes you have to struggle to get what you want!

It makes getting it that much sweeter. 

 

Being a lawyer will change not only my life, but my family’s life too

It would be confirmation that everything my parents went through to get me here wasn’t in vain

It will show my brother that hard work will pay off in the long run

It will show the world that Great things can come out of small places so don’t count us out

But most of all, by me making it there, I would be clearing a path for more people that want to

Dream with their eyes open.

-The Moon Owl™