There are plenty of times in your life when there’s a fork in the road and you wonder “would would have happened if I went the other way?” I often wonder what my life would be like if I stayed in San Antonio for college instead of moving to New Orleans. I think I’d have continued to work in retail, continued living with my parents and generally, would not have learned how to exist on my own.As my time in Chicago winds down, I think about the the choices that I have made during my 6 years here. I can pinpoint the moment in my life where all of this fun originated. A grad school friend of mine had a party near Christmas time. The weather was terrible, but despite all the snow my roommate and I went (the host was her boyfriend at the time). There I met B. I was more or less getting out of a relationship and looking to meet someone new and B and I talked a lot at the party.
Some facebook stalking later and we were friends. I asked him out on a date. We hooked up for a while and then he disappeared. Once he reappeared he was doing this thing called hashing. I had no idea what it was, only that it kept us from hanging out a few nights a week. Eventually he invited me to join. And I did. It was probably the best decision I’ve ever made.
It would have been easy enough to blow off the party that night. Chicago was in the midst of a pretty serious snow storm. My friend didn’t live close at all. My roommate didn’t have a car so she couldn’t drive. Despite all the elements, I drove to that party.
If I took the easy road and stayed home that night, I never would have
- started hashing
- which lead to me having some very athletic friends
- which lead me to being peer pressured into racing
- which lead me to actually running without beer being promised at the end
- which lead me to traveling for races
- which lead me to traveling with my friends just for fun
- which lead me to traveling for races with my friends for fun
- all of which has basically made me who I am today.
My first two years in Chicago were ok. I was living and working and going to school, but when I met B and he introduced me to hashing, it really changed my world. I’ve experienced more and had more relationships in the past 4 years than I could ever have imagined. And just to think, I could have missed out on it all if I never would have gone to that party.
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