It all matters

Today's 100 words:

I sometimes think about where I would be today--who I would be--if I had made even one decision differently. What if I had chosen a different college? Married my high school boyfriend? Hadn't taken that teaching job in Nebraska? What if I had gone to a Chinese restaurant that day instead of to the Mexican place around the corner? Would I be someone else? Almost certainly my life path would be different. Would I have kids? Would I have found my way to New York? Even the smallest decisions can change the course of a life.

My Christmas Eve dilemma

Today's 100 words:

When I became a mother, I think that my brain's reasoning portion was removed, and I lost all my ability to make even small decisions. Case in point: tonight's 1.5-hour-long Christmas Eve service begins at 11 p.m., and I've been debating whether we should go. It seems like such a late night for the kids, and when I think of all I still have to do after they go to bed, I feel exhausted. Still, I want my kids to understand our Christian faith and the true meaning of Christmas. I'm sad the service isn't earlier.

Decisions

I wrote today's 100 words about being a high school senior asked to decide on a college major. I had no idea what I wanted to do. Up until that point in my life, I had already changed my mind a million times: I'd wanted to be a singer, an archaeologist, an orthodontist (back in my braces days), a journalist... I had no idea what to tell the people who asked. I finally decided on broadcast journalism as my major but ended up switching to English by the end of my first semester. English stuck; I went on to graduate school for a master's, then taught college English and journalism classes for several years. I've never regretted the switch!

This morning's 100 words:

All the college applications had a place for us to select a major, and I remember how weird it seemed that I, a seventeen-year-old high school senior, was being asked to make what seemed to be such a life-altering decision--a huge, can't-go-back, set-in-stone decision--and I felt so ill-equipped to even know, to even pretend to have an inkling of an idea about what I was supposed to do with the rest of my life. I was facing a test I hadn't studied for. I didn't know the answer.

Choose your own life

Today's 100 words:

I often think about how things would be different had I chosen another path. Every decision I've made thus far--including the seemingly insignificant ones--has brought me to where I am today. Even something as innocuous as what I chose to eat one day in the college cafeteria may have had a major impact on my life. If I had stood in the pizza line instead of at the salad bar, would I have met somebody who would factor into my life forever--a life-long friend, business associate, spouse? It's the little decisions that make up a life.