!B for Big Changes
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agk's phlog
23 Apr 2021 @ 1446
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written on x61 at the truck stop
while waiting for the print shop
to finish printing my wedding bulletins
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Going to a highly-selective college in my late 30s
was a big change. I was tired and frustrated about
slaving at work I didn't like for wages that didn't
pay the bills. I thought I was mostly done growing
as a person and mostly just needed a credential so
I could ascend to the next rung of the working-
class ladder.
I didn't get the credential. I got big changes
instead. Before my first semester began I met the
woman I'm now marrying and having a child with,
five years later. I stopped accepting demanding
volunteer positions far away that interfered with
my ability to dependably do good work in school and
my job. School built my stamina for doing heavy
workloads for longer spans of time than I'd ever
done. I learned through failure and stubbornness to
work effectively with supervisors.
I graduated in the middle of the pandemic year. I'm
celebrating my third year working at a hospital
where I initially did clinicals. The wedding is in
five days. Our parents and girlfriends will be there
to hug us both. Our first daughter will be born in
two months. I planned on a credential. I got instead
a good life.
At our wedding Evy will read to me from Song of Songs:
> Leave your high mountain hideaway.
> Abandon your wilderness seclusion
> Where you keep company with lions
> and panthers guard your safety.
> You’ve captured my heart, dear friend.
> You looked at me, and I fell in love.
It's a big change to live a simple, satisfying life,
keeping company with family and coworkers not lions
and panthers. I'm here for it.
