I was seriously this close as of sophomore year in high school going to Annapolis and becoming a navy fighter pilot, but the luck of having an Uncle Jimmy, the perserverance of my parents, the influence of a certain friend, and the open arms and door of certain teacher, eventally led to me choosing this path, and I believe it is the right path.
God gives us all little pushes everyday. We don't feel them when they happen, but they affect in ways we never think. Just to think that if I wouldn't have chosen the trombone, where, what, and who would I be? If I told my parents I wanted to stop going to St. Joe's and go to the local public high school, I can't even imagine the person I would have become, or if I would have been able to learn to stand up for myself. Life is hard because we expect our life to be defined by one huge decsion, but it's not. It's all about the little things in life, the smell of wood being cut to build a set, the sound of a person's footstep across a stage, or even a photograph of you and your best friends, that bring our lives full circle."
The above is taken from a note I wrote back in September of my freshman year of college. I wrote because I realized that choosing to play the trombone back in middle school (because the instrument was free) was the one decision in my life that had the biggest effect - and I didn't realize it till that day four years ago.
Today, I don't play the trombone (I play guitar) and I don't think I'll ever have the love for theatre I did when I entered college (which is a long story, though I still love the art form). But, the trombone 'push' led me from that day my freshman year to where I am today. I am the Executive Director of a cultural center in the Upstate of SC, and I'm about to be 22. This still blows my mind, and my mother still can't get used to the fact that 'checking with the boss' is really just me saying "Can I do this? Yes.". But the fact is that all of those 'little decisions' I made led me to this career - there was not one big thing that led me here.
I worked for the College of Charleston Foundation as a student fundraiser (the people that call you and ask for money) because it looked like the easiest job and the most readily available after I quit working for Chickfila. I volunteered for Charleston Stage Co. my sophomore year - because I was required to in an Arts Management class- which eventually built up to a position as Development Assistant by my senior year. I became a board member of a student theatre group because of my experience in marketing during high school and because I got to know all of the students in the Theatre Dept very quickly.
Because every one of these things brought a different perspective on the arts and nonprofit management, I grasped the information in my Arts Management and Business classes pretty well. And because of my understanding of the field and my experiences I was hired the summer before my senior year as an intern for a startup theatre company - one founded by my previous high school teacher who gave me the chance at experiencing theatre for the first time and who directed those school musicals where I played my trombone. And it was there that I met the person who would inform of this job opening and put in a good word for me.
And because of everything mentioned above, I was hired out of field of 60 individuals - all of which I'm sure were older than me and maybe more experienced than me in terms of length of time in the field...but I'm pretty sure none of them played trombone.
Looking back, if everything else would have happened the same way - if I had stayed at St. Joseph's anyway and gone to CofC and fallen into the arts management field, but I didn't play the trombone, I can't help but think I would have been somebody other than who I am right now. If you take out any link in the chain, the chain changes.
I'm pretty sure everyone's life is like this. Even marriage to a certain extent is not a life-changing event/day, it's when you meet your significant other that leads up to it. But when you look back on what you've done or who you are and try and find that one thing that set you on your course, it'll really put everything in perspective for you.
-gp
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