Don't let life get in the way
By Staff
Kim West
I believe everything happens for a reason, and it's up to us to accept the curveballs and speed bumps that come along while trying to figure out the meaning behind the events in our life.
I hear a lot of people talk about how their high school years were the best times of their lives, but I'm hoping that life gets better as we grow older.
I enjoyed high school, especially senior year, but I don't miss the cliques and constant supervision, and I think college has been an even better experience than the days of proms, football games and field trips. And after nearly a year here, I'm pretty sure I can handle another 40 years or so of working in the full-time world.
I estimate I have 60-65 years left to pay off student loans, go to the beach, see Alabama win another national championship, buy a home, trek through Italy, get an MBA, spoil grandkids, go skydiving and visit friends and family across the country. That might even be enough time to take a cruise to Alaska, open my own business and enjoy retirement.
When I started college I made a lot of plans, and where I am now is not where I envisioned myself. If I had the ability to go back and erase all of my mistakes since graduating high school – and I would need an industrial-strength eraser – then I would also be cutting out a lot of positive moments and people that are now an important part of my life.
The biggest example would be my decision to transfer after my sophomore year at North Alabama. Before I made my final decision, I had applied for an on-campus job as a resident assistant and an internship with a local newspaper but neither one worked out. At the time I was very disappointed because I would have stayed in Florence if I had been hired for either position.
But during my two years in Tuscaloosa, I made lifelong friendships and contacts, discovered Kiwanis, survived three-a-days and learned how to wait tables. After graduating from Shelton, I went back to UNA and ended up being hired as an RA and at the local paper.
As John Lennon once sang, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
