The Promising Child

I took, hmm..... actually I started a Sociology course in college, "Culture and the development of the promising child". Do not ask me what it was about. I had not a clue then and I still don't. When I saw the huge pile of required reading I would have to purchase at cut throat prices over to the College bookstore, I dropped that class as fast as it took me to get to the registrar's office with maybe a toke break thrown in on the way. 50 minutes was all I needed to know that Culture's role in bringing up baby was a subject I was going to be able to skip and still maybe, most likely live a fairly full life. 

I never forgot the title of the course though.  Through all the future failures, the upcoming successes and up to last night when I spotted that spiral notebook; the notebook I planned to fill with the studious and industrious efforts of a young mind just wanting to suck the World dry of every fact, where and why. Bright eyed and full of piss and vinegar, I leaned in hard at college that first year.  

By year 3 1/2, I wasn't leaning as hard into it and I was still a good two, more likely 3 semesters from graduating.    So I hit the road instead.  Yee Haw and the madness began, or rather continued unabated as I seamlessly switched from the life of a college loser hippie to a workin loser hippie driving tractor trailers.

Yeah, I was full of promise one day long long ago.  Full of promises others had designed for me without much conversation or debate.  I was to follow the same college path the previous 5 generations of Macrum men had hiked.   Since I chose my own way instead of the traditional family path, I am sure several of my relatives and a couple of ancestors would like to sue me for breach of promise.

My parents were most likely disappointed to a certain extent. If they were, they did not hold that disappointment against me. They never berated me. They never abandoned me. They understood I had to go my own way. It was the outliers and casual acquaintances who passed the harshest judgement.

And now, so many, many years later, I may have a few regrets here and there. I certainly do not have any concerns or regrets about what others outside my family have ever thought. I lived up to the only promise that really mattered. That was to follow my own path.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ........................

__________________

Didn't work too hard to find a tune to go with the post. "Good Riddance" by Green Day on a playlist popped up, so I picked it. Seems to fit I think. 

"it's something unpredictable

But in the end, it's right

I hope you had the time of your life"

Exactly.