Room for rent
My roommate of about 9 months is moving out next weekend. This will be the third roommate I’ve had in the last 3 years living here. After dad died and I turned 19 I had to move out and make it on my own. I thank my lucky stars to this day that I was fortunate enough to be financially independent at that point. I sometimes wonder had things not happened like they did if my life would be like it is today. I think of life as an upside-down tree, with many branches, each going in different directions. Maybe its just because I’m used to finding analogies between life and computers, but its not too different than a directory structure of folders on your desktop, each leading their own path. You go down one branch and soon enough there will be another choice to make. Go left or go right? Each continuing down its own unique path. Sometimes it’s not clear where each branch will lead, and sometimes you don’t have any control over which branch you choose. Things happen in life that forces you to make a choice, and we must look back without regret at the choices we made. There is a quote from a song by Orbital I find deer to me. “Its better to regret something you have done, than to regret something you haven’t”. As I sit here writing this I wonder to myself if there are things I’ve done I regret.
Self, what do you regret? What mistakes have you made thus far, and how have you moved past those regrets?
The better question is have I learned from my mistakes, and will I see the mistake before it happens next time. I’m about a fifth through my life and through all I’ve seen this far I hope I can be wise enough to live the rest of my life without regret.
So my roommate came to one of those branches in his life the other day. He had an offer from his grandfather to take over the lease of his condo in Newport News and continue climbing the corporate latter at Anheuser Busch, or continue with his plan to move to Florida and go to a game development school. I was outside with him as he told me about his choices. In just a few hours he would weigh the pros and cons of each choice, and ultimately take a path that would forever change his life. I wish him the best in his endeavors, and I know that no matter where he goes he will be happy and successful because he has a great head on his shoulders. I’ve never had a roommate or a friend quite like him. I see in him a youthful ambition that I hope I still have. Watching him get excited about a programming language or database class at ECPI reinforced my belief that we should never stop learning, never take anything for granted, and look to the future else life would get mundane.
I wish you luck John and hope that the branches in your tree take you someplace exciting and fulfilling. As for me, I’ve got to make a choice about what to do with an empty room.