What's your most changing experience you've lived?

Getting married.

Leaving home on the ranch and going to University.

Spending a ‘college’ summer working at a Neanderthal dig in the south of France (in a cave on the cliffs above the Quinson River)

Many other events…. but I’d have to kill you if I told you. lol

Having kids, an amazing amount of changes occur after having kids (at least there should be.)

growing older.

Puberty.

Getting caught up in a drug bust on the set of a TV Sitcom.

That changed me and it produced change, for the better. Though I do miss Hollywood.

Postpartum Depression

Sitting at my mom’s funeral At 47 years old, I realized that other than hubby and my 2 sons, I had no one else in my family. I had to think totally for myself.

I finally felt like an adult….5 years later, I see the difference in myself. I have no one to really bounce ideas and/or problems off of like I had with her.

The only other thing that would change me in a major way would be the death of my spouse or my kids.

Heavy question for Friday~

Having my son. I truly think all that encompassed that made me finally put someone other than myself first. It’s a real eye opener.

Getting thrown out of a vehicle, over a telephone pole an landing on my feet, thereby breaking both of my ankles, several vertebra and shrinking and inch in height. That changed the way I see people in wheelchairs, and the way I treat people. You never know when your number will be up.

@erichw1504 ; I thought puberty was bad until I went through my kids puberty! It is even harder to parent someone going through it than it is going through it yourself!! (Especially when you have 3 teenagers in the house at once!!)

My Grandfather dying. I thought when he died then I’d go to sleep and just die too but I woke up alone, the physical thread we’d always had between us was gone and I had to get used to living not having that funny feeling with me always. Of course like a lot of people I had hoped to still have that feeling, his presence if you will with me even after death but sadly I admit I don’t feel him at all. His death brought me to focus on leaving a negative relationship and making a huge gamble on a better future for myself. For the first time in my life, I’m single meaning I’m not living with a partner, not provided for, protected or allowed to dawdle along and I’m finding out I’m okay to do for myself. It’s not optimum and it’s not my preference but I haven’t crumbled and let myself or my responsibilities go.

Living in the midst of indigenous people. Seeing horrendous results emanating from clinging to an ancient culture while selectively choosing parts of the modern world to embrace. Seeing children covered in scabies because of poor hygiene when there is free medical care 10 steps away. Seeing all the problems perpetuated by children not going to school because the adults were drinking and fighting all night keeping the kids awake. Seeing 12–14 year old mothers who were impregnated by old men, the elders can pretty much do as they please, all in the name of culture. Seeing dogs abused and breeding uncontrolled. Seeing people constantly making stupid unhealthy choices and blaming it on someone else.

The experience has changed me more than I like to acknowledge.

Initially, being verbally absed from before I can remember, then being molested by a family member. These things taught me that I was stupid, fat and ugly, and only valid as some guy’s entertainment and support.

Later, it was giving birth, and ultimately choosing to become the kind if person that I want him to be – and in essence, re-parenting myself.

When I got married, I suddenly became a husband, provider, and a step-father.
Quite a humbling moment.

My friend’s suicide.

Getting my M.S. degree in Kansas.

So many things. But what immediately sprang to memory was this. One day my mother was normal and herself, the next day (due to brain surgery) she was there, but she was not. I had this too with a severely mentally ill girlfriend. I have experienced it twice, where the body of the person was there, but they were no longer themselves. They were someone else. It is so hard to describe. It changed me in that I realized nothing is permanent, that people change beyond death, that my expectations of life are like feathers in the wind. I believe it created a deep melancholy inside of me which never left.

It may sound silly, but the most life-changing experience for me was when I left my marriage and drove into town to find a new place then giving the manager my first month’s rent and damage deposit.
I had the hardest time doing that. I spoke to her then had to leave and drive around, getting up the nerve to go back and do it. As soon as I handed it to her I knew it was a done deal and I went up and started putting my things in the closet. I felt incredibly relieved and in a sort of daze. Alone with a teenager for the first time in 20 years with no job. Took awhile to get used to but it was kind of exciting.

Moved to Canada without knowing English or French. Got married and divorced. Opened my first business and failed, and the second one and now is my third. Life is beautiful, every twist and turn makes me become a better person. Changing is good.