You Can Love Your Life Now!

By Charlene M Brown

I never understood why the first semester of college was all about “What’s your name, Where are you from and What’s your major.” That is, I didn’t understand it until one of my good friends sat me down and explained it to me a year or two later.

I understood the “What’s your name?” question, but the other two baffled me.

I couldn’t wrap my brain around why it was so important to know my major and my point of origin.

What my friend eventually explained to me was that people were looking for similarities, they were trying to find common ground as a base from which to start a potential new relationship.

This kinda blew my mind. I was always looking for something different than myself to expand my horizons, so to speak. I was moving in a completely opposite direction than the people around me! But this was not the first time I realized I was “different.”

(Any of my good friends who are reading this are probably cracking up already—“different” is a slight understatement )

After my initial disgruntledness (yes I made that word up!), I did eventually settle in to the nuances of college life. In fact, I got what I was supposed to get from college.

But along the way, to my great delight, I actually made friends, and good friends to boot.

Yet there were many other surprises along the way too.

At the end of my first year English class, we were required to write a paper of our own choosing. I wrote a tearful thank you to the friends I had made that year in that class.

I had never before been so accepted by my peers, I had always been the odd little ducking on the sidelines. That was one surprise.

Then moving forward, I was surprised again by which of the friends I kept and maintained and which ones glided away.

This still surprises me today. I am amazed at the unlikely people I have kept in contact with and the ones who have created distance.

Hmmmm. Maybe college broadened my horizons after all. Even if it snuck up on me.

In truth, my expectations of what I thought college was going to be were different from what college actually was for me.

It certainly wasn’t college life on TV! (My generation and certainly those folks younger than us, all think life is like it is on television, which of course, it isn’t at all!)

But it was a place to co-mingle with all sorts of different kinds of people. College diversity was something I was also pleasantly surprised by.

Certainly my college had its share of headaches. But it also had a good deal of great times (and a great deal of good times!). The people I met while I was in college hold an unparalleled place in my life and my heart. One of my college roommates is one of my closest friends today. And I keep in touch with some genuinely Good People!

So maybe college wasn’t so bad after all!

Hmmmm, I’ll have to give that some more thought before I’m actually ready to admit it!

Do You Love Your Life Now!? I Do (in part, because I was pleasantly surprised by some of my college experiences!)

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2. The Good Side of the Rainbow!
3. My College Lied To Me: The Falsities of Getting A Job After College!
4. Grateful After Thanksgiving!
5. Everything I Was Supposed To Learn In College I Already Learned In Kindergarten

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