50 Posts: That Thing that Happened in High School...

Today's post prompt: "That thing that happened in high school that pretty much changed your life forever"…

Mostly, I try not to think about high school. People normally claim middle school as awkward and traumatic but high school was far worse for me.

All schools are cliquish but private schools are the worst. Because parents get involved. I went to two different high schools, both were private. I graduated valedictorian of a class of 9 and one of the mothers tried to get my grades not to count because I had transferred in. In the tenth grade. From a more academically challenging school. Apparently 3 years at a school is not enough to prove yourself. People can be absurd and hurtful.

That's the kind of crap I faced in high school. I was awkward and shy but I tried to make friends. It did not matter: my classmates didn't like me. Probably because their parents didn't like me. 

So I try not to think about high school.

A few good things did happen those four years: 
I learned French. 
I painted. 
I skipped class (a lot). 
I ate fried okra from a gas station. 
I went on Senior Lunches to Zelly's Pub. 

One day, in history class, I declared, "I'd love to live in Scotland for a year." As I said it, I thought to myself, "No. No, you wouldn't. You're excited about college and being close to family and growing slowly and incrementally." (Okay, maybe I didn't talk to myself about growth at the time… but the thought was there somewhere.) My history teacher jumped on that fleeting spoken-aloud thought of mine and started a chain of events that I couldn't stop. I found myself 5 months later on a jet plane to 43 Hyndford Street, just off Blackness Avenue in sunny Dundee, Scotland.

Because of that moment:
- I met some of the most incredible people who pushed my heart deeper and closer to The Lord
- I lived with a family from whom I am modeling many of my parenting decisions
- I went to College of Charleston instead of FSU
- Which, in turn, is why I ended up at Clemson (Go Tigers!)
- At Clemson, I met Brandon

The rest, as they say, is history.

[This post is a part of 50 Posts series in which I blog about 50 various subjects from 9.20.13 to 9.20.14. Inspired by and adapted from] Fat Mum Slim.