Life Changing Moments

Yesterday afternoon I was asked how many life changing events I could identify. It sounds like a simple enough idea. Take a little time and write down the moments/events that changed your life.

I didn't want to focus on the obvious ones, such as the birth of my children. I am not minimizing them, they are all incredibly important. Rather I am trying to dig deeper and see what I can learn, if anything about myself.

It is an exercise that I expect I might try and do a few times so that I can compare my notes and see if my opinion about some things has changed. Before I get started a brief comment. Due to various events I don't feel as safe in posting some things here. It is not because they're illegal or wrong, they're just quite personal.

As I have mentioned in the past the loss of anonymity has impeded some of my ability to just share my thoughts here. Anyway, I am going to try and list a few and we'll see how and where it goes. I expect that it will be revised and refined many times.

P.S. For the moment this is not in order of importance:
  1. First day of kindergarten- G and I meet. 34 years later we're as tight as ever.
  2. January 15, 2003
  3. The death of my great-grandfather.
  4. John Hinckley's attempted assassination of President Reagan.
  5. Little League- 12 years old and I lead the league in homers.
  6. Reading Tolkien's books.
  7. Taking second place in a write-off for sports journalism.
  8. Winning first place in a writing contest.
  9. My first kiss.
  10. First love.
  11. Falling in love again.
  12. The first time my heart was broken.
  13. The last time my heart was broken.
  14. My first job.
  15. Summer of 1982, 1985, 1988.
  16. Spring/Summer of 2004.
  17. The 1996 Olympics.
  18. D's Death.
  19. My son's Pidyon Ha-Ben.
  20. Buying my house.
  21. The embarrassment I felt after I was laughed for my singing in a school play.
  22. My Bar-Mitzvah.
  23. Graduations.
  24. Israel 1995 and 1998.
  25. Memorial Day 2008.
And so the pressure is on. That list above is the first draft. It is soft and missing things, but what...

3 comments:

Leora said...

Tolkein? Yeah? More about that one, please.

Janet said...

Very interesting list! I'm with you on #6 :-)

Jack Steiner said...

Leora,

I have always had an imagination, a very active one. Tolkien helped to open my eyes to how broad an imagination could be.

It made me expand the scope of what I had been looking at.

Janet,

Thanks.

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