Letter from the finance manager

Dear reader,

The last time I wrote for a publication was in elementary school. Unhindered by life’s dose of disappointment, I decided that my story about a turkey who could drive a Ford F-150 was good enough to be submitted to the Star Tribune. Growing up, it was my dream to be an author. It was also my dream to be a veterinarian, a professional basketball player, the next Hannah Montana, and many others in a long line of unlikely professions. Instead, I went to school to become an accountant. 

When I tell people that I am going into accounting, I receive awkward smiles and empty compliments, as if every stereotype about a balding old man with shallow, dark eyes and a plain gray suit were true. Mostly, they are. I’ve had professors stand in front of the lecture hall and brazenly declare that accounting is boring, hard, and soulless. And yet, I account.

When I stepped into my first Wake staff meeting and declared that I was the new finance manager, I was met with cheers. It didn’t matter that they were most likely because of my ability to fill a glaringly vacant role. The truth is, I went into the business world because I didn’t know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and I still don’t. But being at The Wake this past year has made me realize how much I love being surrounded by a group of talented, creative minds. Maybe this is the antithesis of what I’m going to school for—or maybe it’s not. All I know is that I’ll leave The Wake at the end of this semester with no clear sense of where I want to go, but it seems much less cloudy than before. 

Make your life messy just because you can.

Also, tax day is April 18.

Erin Krotz