Good decisions, bad decisions: We've all had our share
It's the last Wednesday of the month and in the blogosphere that means it's time for the monthly Blogopalooz hour. Here's how it works, you get a topic and then have one hour to write about it. Capisce? Easy peasy.
Tonight's topic is “Write about a decision you made that changed the course of your life for better or worse.” Like I said easy peasy.
My first thought was deciding whether to write this. Naaaa...not really. This wasn't going to change my life for better or worse. Then I figured it would be easy to go with bad decisions. Oh man, have I made a lot of them. When you quit a job without having anything else to back up that choice and it leads to your life going into the dumpster for a few years, well yeah...that was pretty bad.
But why focus on the bad when we can look at the good. Eliminate the negative accentuate the positive. Look at me being all positive instead of cynical.
I think the best decision I ever made was choosing to go to college at the University of Oklahoma. It changed a lot in my life and almost all for the better.
Honestly, I wasn't really a college guy. I didn't care much about academics. Good thing I'm kind of smart or I never would have graduated high school...and it's damn hard not to graduate high school.
I'm a senior and I know I'm going to college. I went for a few reasons: a. Everyone in my high school went and I'm part of everyone. b. I desperately wanted out of my hometown. Plus with dad paying for it, it was win/win. c. Vietnam. I wasn't going to be the first kid on my block to come home in a box. Saigon vs Norman, Oklahoma? WTF do you think?
So it's decided that I'm going to college and now I have to decide where. If you've read the first three hundred words, you know I'm not going to Harvard, Yale or even Illinois. My parents thought going to Southern Illinois in Carbondale would be a good place. Too many north shore kids there and too close to home...way to close. I'm going there if my only decision would be going to C-Dale or Nam.
I had somewhere else in mind. It was out west and it was warm. But I knew someone who was already in school there and I didn't think the campus was big enough for both of us. I mean it would only be us and about another 50,000 students. I didn't like those odds. But one good thing was the person I was avoiding had the same grade/test score issues as I did. And I knew what their backup college choices were. I figured if they got in to one of these places, I could, too...and I was right.
Voila...off to the University of Oklahoma. Six of the best years of my life!! Yeah six but that's a story for another day.
Who knew I would love it there? I figured I was just escaping and that part is true but really I grew up there. Now I didn't exactly become more academic once I got there. I pretty much took a gap year my first year there....partying while going to an occasional class. But I did become more social which is a big part of growing up.
The people I met there are the ones I feel closest to other than my own family. There are a few I see fairly regularly. Some others I haven't seen in twenty or more years. But when we all get together, it's comfortable. We pick up like we saw each other yesterday. I'm sure it would be like that with the ones I haven't seen in decades, too. That's rare. I recognize that and I'm grateful for it.
People make multiple decisions every days. Some are great, others no so much but you have to live with your choice. I've made so many bad ones but at least I recognize that and try to move forward from them. But this one I've never had a second doubt about. It's hard to believe but at age seventeen I made this life changing decision and got it right. Who knew!!
Related Post: I'm Embarrassed For My School:Racism at The University of Oklahoma
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