I recently bought a new car! Actually, I’m leasing it. That’s what works best for me at the moment, but I fully intend to buy it out at the end of my lease. I reminded the salesman of that when I picked up the car. He said, “Okay, great. But think back to your life three years ago.” I did, briefly. “A lot can change in three years.”
Point taken.
I wish there was someone to say that to the junior at University of Pennsylvania who walked in front of a train last week. The school year wraps up in a matter of weeks and she’d be going home for the summer presumably, the stress of the school year behind her. In one year, she’d be preparing for graduation. In two years she may have started a career and moved to a new city. In three years, she could have possibly been planning her wedding or a big vacation or… who knows. None of us know… she’ll never get to find out…
In times of stress it’s difficult to see our lives as anything more than what they are right then. Our focus is so narrowed that we’re unable to see outside of the situation nor light at the end of the tunnel. But the dark times pass. And stressful circumstances or not, life changes, and sometimes in ways that you least expect.
If you had told me in early July of 2004 that in less than two months I’d be living in Philadelphia, I would have laughed and said you were full of crap. At the time, I was waiting tables in central New Jersey at a popular restaurant. My heart had just been broken and my days were a constant cycle of double shifts followed by drinking and poker into the early morning, eat, sleep, repeat. I could see no way out of it.
But a phone call from a friend in Philadelphia changed that. “You have nothing going for you,” he said. “A few of us are renting a brownstone and need a fourth roommate. You can wait tables here until you find something better. The change will do you good.”
In August I moved to Philadelphia and started a job at a non-profit organization. Just like that, in the matter of six weeks, my entire life changed.
It was the best split-second decision I ever made. I needed something big to shake up my life and the move to Philadelphia was that exact thing.
Surely you can think of a few examples of shake ups in your life that resulted in great change and new opportunities. Some of them are nice surprises, like a phone call from a concerned friend, or falling in love with someone overseas. Some come disguised as tragedies, like broken hearts, broken bones, illness and death. Regardless, life’s surprises are inevitable and we are wise to view them, even the struggles, as opportunities. And to remember that life changes, and it does so quickly. Nothing stays the same, nor should we want it to!
Who knows where I’d be right now if I hadn’t moved to Philadelphia. I refuse to believe I’d still be waiting tables, but I doubt I’d be where I am now, with a career and a home and a husband… and a new car.
I wonder where I’ll be in three years…
Stay tuned.
P.S. It seems that the past several posts were not emailed to my subscribers – I’m so sorry! I’m told by tech support that the glitch has been fixed. Here are the posts you may have missed:
