The Days Of Our Lives
"Change in a person's character structure is slow and almost imperceptible, and although many people look back and say, 'This was the day that changed my life,' they are never wholly right. The day you choose one college instead of another, or decide not to go to college at all, the day you take one job instead of another because you cannot wait, the day you meet someone you later love -- all are days that lead to change, but none of them are decisive because the choice itself is the unconscious product of days that have gone before."
Rona Jaffe, "The Best of Everything" 1958
So I've obviously been reading this book and I came across the above quote, which I found thought provoking and true. It started me thinking, are there any days that I can point to that led to a true change in my life that I didn't realize were significant then? I can think of two. In keeping with the thought of the quote, they were days that I wouldn't mark on the calendar as having been important until many other subsequent days had passed.
The first that comes to mind was the day that I fought with my then-boyfriend who decided not to propose to me that evening as he had planned. It was the beginning of the eventual decline of that relationship. Had I stayed in it, I would probably be divorced by now and its end was probably one of the most significant things to happen to me.
The second day was the day I seriously started thinking about going back to law school. It wasn't an obvious thought at all. I was actually on a date with a lawyer who commented that it was a shame I had decided not to go because he thought I would be good at it. I laughed it off as his version of flattery, but it started me thinking about what I really wanted to do, several years later, I applied. And you know the rest of that story.
There are of course other days as well. The days where I met good friends without realizing that I would become good friends with them -- TJH2, CLC, KHH, the days that I met you all fall into that category.
I like this concept because it lends a little bit of excitement to the ordinary day -- who knows if something that happened today will make this a significant one years from now? You can't tell in the moment and that, for me, makes every day a little more exciting.
My friends, what are the days that have changed your lives?
Rona Jaffe, "The Best of Everything" 1958
So I've obviously been reading this book and I came across the above quote, which I found thought provoking and true. It started me thinking, are there any days that I can point to that led to a true change in my life that I didn't realize were significant then? I can think of two. In keeping with the thought of the quote, they were days that I wouldn't mark on the calendar as having been important until many other subsequent days had passed.
The first that comes to mind was the day that I fought with my then-boyfriend who decided not to propose to me that evening as he had planned. It was the beginning of the eventual decline of that relationship. Had I stayed in it, I would probably be divorced by now and its end was probably one of the most significant things to happen to me.
The second day was the day I seriously started thinking about going back to law school. It wasn't an obvious thought at all. I was actually on a date with a lawyer who commented that it was a shame I had decided not to go because he thought I would be good at it. I laughed it off as his version of flattery, but it started me thinking about what I really wanted to do, several years later, I applied. And you know the rest of that story.
There are of course other days as well. The days where I met good friends without realizing that I would become good friends with them -- TJH2, CLC, KHH, the days that I met you all fall into that category.
I like this concept because it lends a little bit of excitement to the ordinary day -- who knows if something that happened today will make this a significant one years from now? You can't tell in the moment and that, for me, makes every day a little more exciting.
My friends, what are the days that have changed your lives?
posted by LuLu at
10:15 PM
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