Defining Moments

A few years back, well more than a few quite honestly, I had a teacher tell my parents I would be lucky to graduate high school. Thankfully my mother is still here and not sitting in jail for pummeling the teacher for making that statement about a fifth grader. As I stand on the cusp of finishing another degree, yes I said another, I've thought long and hard about that statement made many years ago.

I've read in a number of different places about defining moments in our lives. Moments that cause us to stop and either change our focus for the better or choosing to remain in the same place. For me knowing this was a defining moment in my life. I decided then as a fifth grader I wouldn't let her be right. I mean after all what did she know? She didn't know me, my family, or the kind of headstrong person I am. Most importantly she didn't know the kind of determination I can have when encouraged. After that I will admit I pretty much blew her off as a teacher. How could you respect someone who was willing to write you off at such a young age? I mean I was no angel in school but she sat me a table full of boys- what was she expecting tea parties and frilly dresses?! Heck no! It was fart jokes, fart noises and plenty of playground shenanigans. 

Her words stuck with me though, kind of like the shoulder angles from Emperors New Groove. There are always shoulder angels, one telling you to do the right thing and the other who pretty much wants you to blow everything off in favor of screwing around and doing nothing. Well I will admit that fun one he won sometimes. I mean you need some fun in your life! But my fun I will say normally involved making up street names for the sidewalks on the base and pretending to build houses from pine needles. (We were poor kids living on a base with two working parents living several hundred miles from home, our imagination was our greatest gift from my parents.) However, most of the time though it did mean working a little bit harder, pushing myself that much more for the grades to prove her wrong. She wouldn't win that battle, I wouldn't let her. 

Ultimately I did graduate high school. And college - twice. For a third time I will walk across the stage and receive my degree, this time for my master's degree. It's been a long and hard fought road. Nothing came easy or was handed to me. I think back over the time I've dedicated to school and even though the wiser shoulder angle won and I spent more time in the books and library. So in the end I didn't let her statement define me, I defined her statement. We're each face those defining moments in our lives. It is our choice though to let someone else define our capability or for us to break out of their box and follow our own path.