18 Year Old Me Would Be Proud

Honestly, this is not what I would have expected to write for my 500th article. It’s not a bad thing to write for my 500th article, especially considering that this milestone used to seem so far away. I actually had the original idea for this article two weeks ago, but I haven’t had the time to write it yet. I’ve held off publishing a few other things to save the spot for this to be my 500th, because for me, this is one of the most important articles I’ve written.

Why is this article so important?

The idea for this article came from when I realized that the only picture I have of myself from when I was eighteen is my mug shot. Yes, my mug shot. The picture they take of you when you go to jail.

Well, you see, when I was eighteen, I spent the first year of adulthood making a lot of mistakes. Some minor, some that could have been life-altering in an unrecoverable way. Long story short, I didn't come from the best home situation.

By the time I finished high school, I had moved between nineteen and twenty times and had attended ten schools. This all made for a very unstable environment, combined with spending most of my childhood as an only child, often left to my own devices, I didn’t enter adulthood with the best tools. But after that first year of self-sabotage and struggles, I managed to pull my head out and start down a better path.

I quit the job that had introduced me to the people who were influencing me to make bad decisions. I went and got my good enough diploma, AKA GED. For those not familiar with the US, you can make up four years of schooling by taking a high school equivalency test. It took two days of testing to make up for not finishing a four-year school.

As ridiculous as that sounds, it opened up new opportunities. I was able to find better, more stable employment. It also eventually allowed me to join the Navy.

Like many, when I joined the Navy, I thought I was going to make it my career. However, like so many more that joined, I figured out after a while that it wasn’t what I expected, and over time, it became less and less what I wanted to do with my life. So, I left active duty for the dangerous and unpredictable world of being a civilian. Or at least that’s how your leadership tried to frame it when you’re getting out.

While it took me the first year to find employment that was stable enough, I eventually started college. I started out in the pilot program at my community college. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out. A full-time job, family, and flight school don’t mix. So, I switched to a business program. This led to the four-year college I would later attend.

Ironically enough, I would switch degree programs again, earning my bachelor's in history with a minor in business.And with that, I had completed two of the three goals I had set for myself when I was fourteen. I was now a father and historian.

And now, as my illustrator finishes the final pages of my children’s book, I am preparing for the completion of my goal trifecta: becoming a published author. I don’t say this to diminish my work here on Vocal. And quite honestly, I could have compiled and published poetry collections, but I just haven’t had the time. But also, part of me wants my first published book to be something new and unseen before. Also, the story of my children’s book is one of the first things I wrote when I started taking writing more seriously. I wrote it and have been working to get it published before I finished my degree or found Vocal.

Now, as I look at that angry and lost young man in that mug shot, I realize how far I’ve come. How much he has changed. How much he has seen. If he only knew how much life would get better from where he was in that moment. And I think if he could see me now, he’d be proud.

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