Do second chances exist? If something doesn’t turn out the way we want it to, do we ever really get another chance at it?Even if we get to do the same thing again, it’s not really a second chance. Something is different the second time around. Circumstances have changed, time has moved on, life has beaten us down or lifted us up. It’s not a second chance at the same thing. It’s a first chance at a similar thing.When I read the challenge for tonight’s Blogapalooz-hour—Write about something in your life you'd like a second chance at—I knew immediately what I would write about.But then I thought better of it. I just don’t know you that well. Nothing personal. I’m just not going to write what I planned to write and then wake up tomorrow and wish that I had a second chance to not write it. Ain’t no second chances when it comes to writing something, and then publishing it for the whole world to see.Then what the hell do I want a second chance at?I grounded into a double play to end an all-star game when I was fifteen-years-old. I’d like a second chance at that at-bat.I ordered the Pure Moods cd after seeing a late-night infomercial and got roped into buying a cd called Yeha Noha at the same time. I’d like a second chance at that phone call.
I burned entirely too much food before I finally realized that high heat isn’t the correct setting for every type of cooking. I’d like a second chance at some of those meals. There’s the equivalent of an entire garbage dump filled with just the scorched remnants of my culinary blunders.And really, wouldn’t we all like a second chance at childhood? Not that we didn’t get it right the first time, but wouldn’t it be great to be so carefree, but this time with the wisdom to enjoy it? I’d love to wear a bib again without people giving me strange looks.But my second chance wish is probably the same one many other people have. I’d like a second chance at college.Actually, it’s not college that I want. The idea of sitting in a classroom and listening to some professor lecture, or other students ask questions or engage in discussion isn’t at all appealing.After high school most kids are expected to go to college. And we ask them to choose a major and learn something to prepare them for a career at which they’ll spend the next forty-five years or so.Why? Why is it reasonable to expect a kid that age to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives? Are the things that interest an eighteen-year-old kid going to be the same things that interest that same person when he’s thirty, or forty-five, or sixty?Probably not. Yet we tell our kids that they need to study hard those four years and figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives.But here’s one place where second chances sort of do exist.I did one year at Valparaiso University. I don’t even remember what my major was. I think I thought it was sports management, but then at the end of the year I discovered that sports management was in the college of Arts and Sciences and I’d registered in the college of Business, so I wasn’t even in the right school.Not that it mattered. I ditched class to stay in my dorm and memorize the lyrics of songs. I did so poorly on my calculus final that I didn’t even submit the test. I walked out of the room, took the test with me, and it’s still stored away in a box of my stuff somewhere.Then I went to Indiana University Northwest and majored in business. And English. And communications. And then finally got a degree in history.I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I’ve done pretty well since. I’ve got a good job. I get to use my brain. I don’t hate my job. I get paid well.So then what is it that I want a second chance at?I’m more sure now of what I want to do professionally than I ever have been. This is part of it. And I’m working in other ways to achieve it. I’ve wanted it for fifteen years, but I never saw a way to make it work. I see a path to get there now. I have a plan to make it work.I don’t know how anyone figures out what they want to do for the rest of their lives when they’re eighteen years old. It makes no sense to me. But now, twenty years later, I’m giving myself a second chance to figure out what I want to do.We don’t always get second chances. But we always have to be ready for them when they arrive.And I’m ready.Let me send you more Dry it in the Water posts!
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