One of my favorite blogs Sometimes Sweet just started doing a "Journal Day," where she will post a prompt on her blog, and you are supposed to write an entry based off of it. I jumped at the opportunity to do this because not only is it a great encouragement to start actually writing, but Danielle was my English teacher my sophomore year of high school, and she did that exact same Journal Day! I really loved walking into her classroom and seeing a new prompt written on the white board. I loved having fifteen minutes to just write whatever I was feeling (we didn't have to do her prompt, we didn't even have to write properly! She was the best teacher!) It was nice having a few moments a week in school to be able to forget about grades and writing perfectly and just be able to write for ourselves. Even though I will admit that sometimes I would just write complete nonsense, see above, haha!
So for the very first out of high school Journal Day, this is the prompt:
Everyone has a time in their life they view as a crossroad. Sometimes you can see it as it's happening, and you're able to choose one way or another. Other times you may not realize you're there until you look back, and see what a turning point it really was. This week, write about a time you view as a marker in your life; a distinct place where things changed, for better or worse.
One of the biggest turning points in my twenty years was when I met Joe. I remember it was during my care-free "don't care what people think" phase. I was eighteen, on my own, and just wanted to be free. I enjoyed going to parties, sleeping until noon, and I'll admit to it now, playing rough with boys' hearts. I was happy and had no plan to change.
Fast forward through about eight months of these days, it's mid June and I'm at a friend's house playing beer pong when I receive a new friend request on Facebook from someone I didn't recognize. I accepted the request and started looking through this guy's photos. I decided to be brave and send this Joe guy a message. We chatted about nothing for the rest of the night and I ended the online conversation with giving him my phone number. Not something I did often until recently, I did it too much.
I woke up to a text the next morning from a strange Vermont number asking to hang out. We agreed to meet at Starbucks that evening. He was bringing a friend, I'd bring my sister. We walked into Starbucks when I saw Facebook guy sitting there holding an iPhone and laughing with his friend. My very first thought was that he's NOT from around here! Skinny jeans, TOMS, and an army green jacket. We sat down with them and all said things you say when first meeting someone. Joe is from Vermont. He just moved here a few months ago. He is twenty-one. He's obsessed with Apple products.
As cheesy as it sounds, I knew right away he was special and I wanted to be with him.
But things didn't happen that neatly. I ignored my strong feelings for him and refused to let them be real. I didn't want a relationship, I was having too much fun. I was hurt pretty badly by a guy only a year prior and wasn't ready to trust someone. But unlike any other guy I had a "thing" with at that time, Joe kept reappearing. I kept feeling the desire to talk to him and be with him. Something I hadn't felt for someone in a long time. But my stubbornness kept it from turning into anything real. I just kept insisting to myself that he was just going to be like everyone else, so I just ignored him.
Joe was the most persistent guy I had ever come across. Everyone else had given up on my games, and I didn't blame them! But Joe always insisted on dates and long phone conversations. We even joke about it sometimes, how even when I was rude and acted uninterested, he tells me now he could see right passed it and was willing to put up with it. And to this day that is something that I am so happy he did.
I finally agreed to be his girlfriend in September. I gained a boyfriend, a best friend, and someone I soon realized I couldn't live without. And although most decisions in your life need to come from only you, this particular one was pushed from someone else. And I couldn't be more thankful that there was someone who came along and made the right choice for me when I wasn't able to myself.
So there's my first Journal Day! I'm glad I decided to do this and cannot wait to see what the next prompt will be! If you want to join in on Journal Day too, click here for more info on it!
No Comments Yet, Leave Yours!