Time, timing and the what if of it

I'm sure everyone has thought about timing more than once in their life, but last night, Luke and I were talking about it, and I was trying to remember all the significant times in my life that I had consciously made a decision that had led me down a certain path. I mean, we make decisions everyday that have an impact in some way or another on our life, but I'm talking about the times I kind of stopped and went, shit, this is going to make a difference. I think maybe the first was when mum gave me the choice to go overseas with her. I use the word 'choice' loosely, as Mum threatened to put me in boarding school if I didn't go. Whether she would have followed through with it, I'm not sure. I suspect it was a clever piece of reverse psychology. Sure, the me of 27 wants to go back and kick the TLC listening girl of 1996, yet to grow into her nose and who harbored fantasies of one day marrying Dean Cain. But when you're fourteen, the thought of missing one weekend, let alone eight in a row, of going into the mall and trying to make eye contact with the guy with green eyes was devastating. In the end I went, bribed with Euro Disney (I know, I hate Disney), had the most eye opening and wonderful time of my life and missed nothing.

I guess the first real decision I ever made was to go to university. I think the second was to apply for a job in advertising. The third, to go travelling and the fourth, to move to London. I know I've made a lot of decisions between then which have no doubt made an impact on my life in ways I've seen and have yet to see, but I think they would be my biggest ones so far. Four major life decisions in ten years. Is that a lot? Or a little? Hindsight brings the impact of those decisions to life, so I guess more will reveal themselves when they're ready.