Defining Moments

While I was in Chicago last week, a total stranger asked me how I would define myself to a complete stranger. I had to think about that for a second, I did not answer it as he had hoped, and instead I asked him how he perceives me considering that I am a complete stranger. He chuckled and said, oh boy, you are a thinker! And right he is! But sometimes I have the tendency to over think things. Our conversation pretty much ended with that (I don’t like talking to strangers too tough). After that brief encounter, I started thinking about the defining moments in my life, then I and some co-workers began to discuss some of our own experiences with each other. A defining moment is the moment you understand what your true character is. I only have a couple, but I will tell you the first one I had (I have experienced the most profound one to date already, but it is too personal to put in a blog). When I was 10 years old, I decided that I wanted to be a member of the 9 & 10 year old girls’ basketball team. My brother played all sports so I wanted to participate in something bigger than myself, and what better way than to try out for the team. Anyone who knows me for real knows that I am NOT athletically inclined, but at 10 years old, I thought could really play!! I will never forget trying out and actually making the team and getting the infamous #11 I wanted (just like my brother)! My dad took and attended every Saturday practice I ever had and went to every one of my games. I only got to play in one game partially because I refused to go back in after one game where this really big girl fouled me and made me break a nail. Nevertheless, our team won the local championships and I got a trophy. I ran home with it, so excited to show my daddy and when I showed him he said, “I didn’t know they gave trophies to benchwarmers?!” At that moment, I was CRUSHED, it was the first time I ever felt incompetent. I loss all desire to play any sport in that one moment and at the same time, I vowed to never feel incompetent again. With just one statement from my daddy, the tenacious, never fail attitude I have, was borne, I was changed forever. Sometimes, people will have moments in which we discover who we are and what we are capable of and some will go through life with none wandering aimless through life never knowing who they are or what makes them tick. How many of you can actually pinpoint moments in your life in which your whole world changed and you defined who you are or wanted to be?