Choosing My Own Adventure
With my 20th high school reunion fast approaching, I have been reminiscing quite a bit lately. About people, places, things, smells, foods, you name it. Today's golden memory involved my favorite books growing up--Choose Your Own Adventure books. Remember those? Neither did I, until today. They were the books where you would read a page, then follow the directions on the bottom of that page to your next step in the story. Your choices would look something like this:
If you decide to go to your high school reunion, turn to page 3.
If you decide not to go, and stay in Hawaii, turn to page 4.
If you decide to save your money and go back to Bali instead, turn to page 5.
I loved reading these books as a kid. Even when I would make choices that led me to an untimely demise, I still got a kick out of them all. Besides, I could always start over and just choose again. It was like a little game, trying to make the best decisions possible to maximize your adventure (and of course, keep reading longer).
Those books were sort of a microcosm for life. Around every corner is a decision to be made that will set off a chain of events that seems to have no rhyme or reason to it, yet is always (in my opinion at least) in perfect order. I don't know. Call me crazy, but the pieces always seem to fit, at least in hindsight.
I had a conversation with a friend the other day about something that happened when I was 23. I was working at Wendy's, as an assistant manager. It was my first job after college (what can I say, it was a rough job market) and one Sunday evening my store in Atlanta was robbed at gunpoint. Several men in ski masks jumped the counter, waving guns in our faces and demanding all of our cash. As the obvious manager on duty (that raggedy blue tie gave it away), guess who had to open the safe with a gun cocked at his head?
Yup. Yours truly.
I recall many things about that night: the eerie silence in the store (except for a few crying women and the impressive string of obscenities being hurled at us by the bad guys), how hard it was for me to open the cash registers with a simple key, and how easily I opened the safe staring down the barrel of a gun. Now, I always had issues opening that safe. I used to joke about my lackluster safe skills with the other managers, and how I hoped to never have to open that sucker under duress. It was a turndial, and I never was able to master it. But here I was, under complete duress. Living out a nightmare. Sweating. Shaking. Praying silently. Concentrating. Concentrating......
Unbelievably, it opened. On the first try.
Whew. If my life was like one of those books I enjoyed so much as a kid, that right there could have been the last page of the story. No choices at the bottom of the page. Game over. Thankfully, it wasn't.
That incident alone led me to a new job, new people, and a whole new appreciation for life and how quickly things can change, or even end. And there are so many other moments that come to mind as real game-changers over the years. Most of them not quite so tension-filled, but nonetheless important. The many moves to new places. The different jobs. Coming to grips with who I am and what I am all about (sexuality included). And of course, the relationships. Ah, yes, the cornerstone of it all. The people I have known.
This is where I feel a bit overwhelmed. Why? Well, how do you begin to address the impact that every single person you have ever met has had on you? It is problematic, to say the least. So for now, perhaps I will just say this: to any friend or acquaintance who has ever graced my life with their presence, I thank you. It doesn't matter what came out of our relationship, or why. It just mattered that we crossed paths.
This brings to mind that old saying, "Friends for a reason, or friends for a season". To my understanding, it would probably be more accurate to say that every friend is there for a reason. Whether it was just a quick hello or a lifetime of frienship, there is always a reason, even when it seems slight. Yes, it is true that some friends stay and some go. But all of them matter. And I don't think any of it is random. It always seems too perfect to be explained that way.
I'm also beginning to feel just as grateful for the bad stuff of life as I am for the good. I realize that I wouldn't be who I am today without the full range of life's ups and downs. It all figured in. What's more, nobody, and nothing, is trivial. Every moment counts.
Like for instance, that one day I just happened to walk into a different Starbucks near my work in Atlanta, a store I had never visited before but had driven by at least a million times. Something inside made me ask the girl at the counter if they were hiring. She said yes, but only for nights and weekends. I smiled and told her that was all I was able to work, because I already had a full-time job. A few minutes later, I was hired on the spot. Though it seemed inconsequential on the surface (a mere ten hours a week to start), I just knew deep down that this job would become important.
That was eight years, three states, and several positions ago. I would say it did.
And that is only the chain of events that got me hired. Never mind all of the people I have met through working with that company, what I have learned from them, and all the myriad people and experiences that have resulted. It grows exponentially from there. To say that it is beyond comprehension is fairly accurate, though it is probably better to say that if I think about it too much, my head might explode.
Life, like those books I used to love, is all about making choices. Just flip the pages, weigh every option, and keep going as long as you can.
Those simple, entertaining stories I would read as a child, each one had a valuable lesson hidden at their heart.
The adventure (LIFE) is never about the outcome. It's only the journey that matters.
If you decide to go to your high school reunion, turn to page 3.
If you decide not to go, and stay in Hawaii, turn to page 4.
If you decide to save your money and go back to Bali instead, turn to page 5.
I loved reading these books as a kid. Even when I would make choices that led me to an untimely demise, I still got a kick out of them all. Besides, I could always start over and just choose again. It was like a little game, trying to make the best decisions possible to maximize your adventure (and of course, keep reading longer).
Those books were sort of a microcosm for life. Around every corner is a decision to be made that will set off a chain of events that seems to have no rhyme or reason to it, yet is always (in my opinion at least) in perfect order. I don't know. Call me crazy, but the pieces always seem to fit, at least in hindsight.
I had a conversation with a friend the other day about something that happened when I was 23. I was working at Wendy's, as an assistant manager. It was my first job after college (what can I say, it was a rough job market) and one Sunday evening my store in Atlanta was robbed at gunpoint. Several men in ski masks jumped the counter, waving guns in our faces and demanding all of our cash. As the obvious manager on duty (that raggedy blue tie gave it away), guess who had to open the safe with a gun cocked at his head?
Yup. Yours truly.
I recall many things about that night: the eerie silence in the store (except for a few crying women and the impressive string of obscenities being hurled at us by the bad guys), how hard it was for me to open the cash registers with a simple key, and how easily I opened the safe staring down the barrel of a gun. Now, I always had issues opening that safe. I used to joke about my lackluster safe skills with the other managers, and how I hoped to never have to open that sucker under duress. It was a turndial, and I never was able to master it. But here I was, under complete duress. Living out a nightmare. Sweating. Shaking. Praying silently. Concentrating. Concentrating......
Unbelievably, it opened. On the first try.
Whew. If my life was like one of those books I enjoyed so much as a kid, that right there could have been the last page of the story. No choices at the bottom of the page. Game over. Thankfully, it wasn't.
That incident alone led me to a new job, new people, and a whole new appreciation for life and how quickly things can change, or even end. And there are so many other moments that come to mind as real game-changers over the years. Most of them not quite so tension-filled, but nonetheless important. The many moves to new places. The different jobs. Coming to grips with who I am and what I am all about (sexuality included). And of course, the relationships. Ah, yes, the cornerstone of it all. The people I have known.
This is where I feel a bit overwhelmed. Why? Well, how do you begin to address the impact that every single person you have ever met has had on you? It is problematic, to say the least. So for now, perhaps I will just say this: to any friend or acquaintance who has ever graced my life with their presence, I thank you. It doesn't matter what came out of our relationship, or why. It just mattered that we crossed paths.
This brings to mind that old saying, "Friends for a reason, or friends for a season". To my understanding, it would probably be more accurate to say that every friend is there for a reason. Whether it was just a quick hello or a lifetime of frienship, there is always a reason, even when it seems slight. Yes, it is true that some friends stay and some go. But all of them matter. And I don't think any of it is random. It always seems too perfect to be explained that way.
I'm also beginning to feel just as grateful for the bad stuff of life as I am for the good. I realize that I wouldn't be who I am today without the full range of life's ups and downs. It all figured in. What's more, nobody, and nothing, is trivial. Every moment counts.
Like for instance, that one day I just happened to walk into a different Starbucks near my work in Atlanta, a store I had never visited before but had driven by at least a million times. Something inside made me ask the girl at the counter if they were hiring. She said yes, but only for nights and weekends. I smiled and told her that was all I was able to work, because I already had a full-time job. A few minutes later, I was hired on the spot. Though it seemed inconsequential on the surface (a mere ten hours a week to start), I just knew deep down that this job would become important.
That was eight years, three states, and several positions ago. I would say it did.
And that is only the chain of events that got me hired. Never mind all of the people I have met through working with that company, what I have learned from them, and all the myriad people and experiences that have resulted. It grows exponentially from there. To say that it is beyond comprehension is fairly accurate, though it is probably better to say that if I think about it too much, my head might explode.
Life, like those books I used to love, is all about making choices. Just flip the pages, weigh every option, and keep going as long as you can.
Those simple, entertaining stories I would read as a child, each one had a valuable lesson hidden at their heart.
The adventure (LIFE) is never about the outcome. It's only the journey that matters.
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