What Might’ve Been
I was thinking this morning about some decisions I’ve made in the last few years and feeling incredibly thankful that I made the ones I did.
I interviewed for a job as Assistant Dean of Student Life at a college here in North Carolina while I was waiting to get word on the salary situation for the job at the middle school. I was so nervous about that interview, but I immediately fell in love with the campus and the people. I was offered the job two days after I interviewed. Jake and I were in Mississippi at the time, the first visit I ever made with him, and I was incredibly torn as to what I should do. The college wanted me to start on July 7th, but said they could be flexible due to how far I had to move. I took a giant leap of faith and turned down that job. It would have been an awesome position, one that would’ve looked great on a resume and likely would have propelled me into a very long and successful career in higher education. This is a field I still miss quite substantially.
This morning I was thinking of all the things that would not have happened had I taken that job. I never would have met Courtney, Paul, Cliff, Kristen, Jeff, Aren, TJ, Tyler, Jay, Sandy, and all my other close friends in Plymouth. Those are people I cannot imagine my life without. I might never have had a job as a counselor if I took that job either; considering the ridiculous amount I paid for my education it’s kind of good I’m doing what I set out to do at the beginning. I would never have gotten Merlin, because that school didn’t allow on-campus staff to have dogs. I don’t know if Jake and I would’ve bought a house or not.
This is just one situation I’ve had in the past few years, and it was on my mind this morning. There have been a lot of other crossroads in the past few years, some more difficult and some extremely simple. Looking back at things I know I made the right decision.
What hard decisions have you had to make? Do you look back and feel confident that you chose wisely?
Heather said,
April 30, 2008 @ 9:15 am
One of the biggest decisions I’ve had to make was if I should move to Boston from good ‘ol Syracuse. I had two offers for jobs in Syracuse and the one from Boston. All were good options. One offer meant I could stay where I interned: safe option. The other was for a compteing firm: relatively safe as I knew one of the partners and I would be staying in my hometown. Boston: love the locale, but no close family nearby, no safety, high cost of living.
I chose Boston. After talking with my husband we decided what the heck. We were young, no children, no house, etc. The perfect time to go out and try something new.
There are times I have regretted it, but they are usually short lived. What keeps coming back to me is that I seriously doubt we would of been able to have children.
See, Massachusetts has an insurance mandate on covering fertility treatments (everything). New York has some coverage but not enough for us to be able to afford treatments.
While I may hate being so far away from family at times, I look at my daughter and feel confident in my decision.
(cripes, could this comment be any longer?
)
Erin said,
May 1, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
It seems like you made some very important choices that have made your life fulfilling which is wonderful!
I’ve definitely made some right and wrong decisions that have impacted my life. I look back and am thankful that I moved to North Carolina which was to everyone very crazy. My husband and I at the time just literally picked up and moved like a week after we came down to visit. We just picked a place on the map and decided to go there, but I’m very happy now that I’m here. But there have been some decisions like dropping out of college that I look back on and completely regret even though I knew why I had done it at the time. But if we really look at our lives there are so many crossroads we have come to that change our lives drastically. I think we are just meant to live the life we have, and if we don’t like it, create our own crossroad and change it ourselves