October 22th, 2015 - Shelby Wright
- donaldewquist
- 17 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Ten years ago on October 22, 2015, I went to a dress rehearsal/practice for Mock Trial. I was a college freshman at Missouri Southern State University and believed I was going to be a lawyer along with my friends who would spend their night with me dressed in a blazer and pretending to be in a court trial until three in the morning. My father drove me there because I never considered an accessible car an option. They were expensive and clunky and just not necessary. I went to commuter college where me and my parents lived fifteen minutes from campus. They drove me where I needed to go.
My mock trial team was practicing in Girard, Kansas. My father and I were early, so he insisted on taking a picture of me in front of an old train car and a few coal mining tools the town had on display. The relics were in memory of the last time the small Kansas town was notable. Coal mining provided a small living and an opportunity that many would immigrate across the world for. My dad always loved documenting individual achievements and historical remembrance through photography. So he found a spot where I could hold myself up and he could snap a picture. My wheelchair is nowhere to be seen. Not because I did not use one, but because I did not want it in a picture.
I spent that night pretending to be in a court trial. I was preparing my resume for law school. It worked for me and many of my teammates. I got into law school at the University of Missouri.
Ten years later on October 22, 2025, I am a graduate of the best Journalism School in the country. One of the points on my bucket list was to study journalism at the University of Missouri. It seemed it was not going to happen once I got my Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and was destined for law school. I practiced to be in a pretend court trial until the wee hours of the morning, for God’s sake.
But three weeks before law school started, my father passed away. After seven weeks of blurrily attending law school and having to coax myself through every movement, I quit. Law school was the only thing I wanted since I was twelve and I had finally made it there, but I hated almost every second of it. I could not see what was next, and law school debt was not clearly connecting me to the book deal I wanted.
After a week of aimlessly sleeping in and wandering around the new city I found myself in, I enrolled in Journalism graduate school. I wrote my Master’s of Journalism thesis about disability representation and graduated in 2024. I create internet content about disabled health, fitness, and travel.
The teenager in a blazer who was working on expertly making her resume for law school would be excited that I was accepted into law school and surprised that I quit not long after. She would be terrified to hear that Dad was no longer taking the pictures, but proud that we found confidence and worth in displaying the wheelchair in every post. She would be happily surprised that studying journalism at Mizzou was checked off of the bucket list.
October always brings me something new and interesting. The crisp mornings bring frosty fields and stocking-cap weather. It is the anniversary of when I became “auntie.” Many times over the years, it has brought me various levels of heartbreak. But the crisp air of October also brings potential for growth. The leaves fall off the trees, but that is because the trees are shedding the old in preparation of new growth.
In October of 2015, I was preparing for a life that was different from what would actually come to fruition. In October of 2025, I realize that I didn’t reach my goals, but I have gained more. Today, I would tell others to be open to and appreciative of changes in the plan. As long as you’re putting in respectable effort, you’ll end up somewhere worthwhile.
