Little Hinges

In a General Conference talk not long ago -- and then again even more recently (in April), Pres. Monson stated, "The door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people's lives."  I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

A couple nights ago, I was emailing my friend Annie.  It just happened to occur to me, mid-email, that I am coming up on 10 years since I moved to Tuscaloosa and started working at the University of Alabama.  In a little cubicle behind Annie :). 

Did you know I never intended to live in Tuscaloosa?  That I never intended to work at the University of Alabama?  Little hinges. 

This was me, just over 10 years ago (August 31, 2006, to be exact...).

I had just wrapped up a job interview in Birmingham.  I didn't get that job. 

By this point, I had been admitted to UA's Library and Information Studies graduate degree program.  I had not, however, been admitted to the online program, which had been my first choice.  The only way for me to pursue my degree was to move to Tuscaloosa -- or thereabouts.  Which meant I needed a new job.  And so I started looking. 

I didn't get that job.  But it was only a little more than a month before things panned out a different way.  I ended up getting a job at the library at UA.  I ended up in the Cataloging Department, where my hours could be flexible, and I had only to walk up a flight of stairs to attend my classes.  I ended up getting a lot of my tuition "paid for" because I was an employee. 

Little hinges. 

My life has changed so much in 10 years.  Sometimes I look back at pictures of myself and think, "Am I still that girl, that young woman?  Is she still inside me somewhere?"  Certainly, I am recognizable (in spite of the many new gray hairs I've added... ;)).  And I guess she is inside me still.  Who I am is built upon who I was.  I am still me, but I am also different.  I have overcome challenges I didn't anticipate facing until they were right in front of me.  It reminds me of that Sunscreen song:  "The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind... The kind that blind-side you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday."  I have become a mother -- and that changes everything.  I have tried things and failed.  I have tried things and succeeded. 

That day pictured above, I didn't know what the future held.  I had hopes, for sure.  Some were realized, others were not.  But it's been a good, good life :).  And here I stand, 10 years later.  I don't know what the future holds...  But I have hopes.  And so it goes.