Petty

This morning's 100 words:

Yesterday was Sarah's birthday. She and I were in the same class in high school, and although others thought we were friends, we weren't particularly close, especially as we got older. I saw the listing for her birthday on Facebook; otherwise, I probably wouldn't have remembered it at all. Sarah and I had a strange relationship. We were friends when we had to be--when we were thrown into a situation together--but most of the time we only tolerated each other. I thought she was rude, loud, and sometimes obnoxious. She thought I stole the guy she liked. I didn't.

Decisions

I wrote today's 100 words about being a high school senior asked to decide on a college major. I had no idea what I wanted to do. Up until that point in my life, I had already changed my mind a million times: I'd wanted to be a singer, an archaeologist, an orthodontist (back in my braces days), a journalist... I had no idea what to tell the people who asked. I finally decided on broadcast journalism as my major but ended up switching to English by the end of my first semester. English stuck; I went on to graduate school for a master's, then taught college English and journalism classes for several years. I've never regretted the switch!

This morning's 100 words:

All the college applications had a place for us to select a major, and I remember how weird it seemed that I, a seventeen-year-old high school senior, was being asked to make what seemed to be such a life-altering decision--a huge, can't-go-back, set-in-stone decision--and I felt so ill-equipped to even know, to even pretend to have an inkling of an idea about what I was supposed to do with the rest of my life. I was facing a test I hadn't studied for. I didn't know the answer.

"You know, you're smarter than you look"

Today's 100 words:

I've encountered several people in life who are experts at making backhanded compliments--people who say things like "You drive very well--for a woman." I had a couple of these "friends" in high school. One, a fellow band member, moved away before senior year, when the band director presented an award to the most accomplished senior band member. I was honored to receive it. When I saw my "friend" that summer, she congratulated me, saying that of course I deserved it--since she hadn't been there. I suppose I have to give her credit for such an overt "compliment."