I imagine life as a singled traveled path that could lead to anywhere. There are so many ways to go, so many turns. You could live forever and never take the same road twice. Taking a hard look back, you have to wonder where else it may have taken you. All you know for sure though is where you are.

I can’t honestly say I’ve lived life with a great sense of scope, not beyond a few years anyway. If you laid out the map of all the decisions I’ve made and traced each step to where I stand, the footprints would seem to wonder erratically across the page.

It’s easy enough for one to wonder why they hadn’t taken a more direct path or focused on a specific destination. But that’s not how it works, really.

Life has always just seemed more like the management of a series of predictable and unpredictable challenges. Making choices with a blueprint in mind is a good idea, but we still have to paint it one stroke at a time.

It was one of these fortunate strokes of life that brought me to apply for a job at The Evening Sun in August of 2006.