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If only you would have listened to _____. She knew exactly what you should have been doing, when, and even why - she told you all of this nearly a decade ago. Unfortunately - immature that you were back then - you were more concerned with who you were doing, where, and how. Ah, the five Ws. They say that hindsight is 20/20. Well, I guess in this case _____'s foresight was 20/02. (It doesn't quite have the same flow, but you optometrist cats out there will know what I'm talking about.) So, what did _____ know?

It's often the case in life that a single sentence can change your life forever. Whether read or heard, certain words are just powerful when grouped together into a line, and administered to a person waiting to hear them - needing to hear them.

"So, you've graduated - now what?"
"I hear so-and-so's hiring."
"If you don't like your job, then quit."
"You should totally go teach English in Thailand."
"I love you."
"Will you marry me?
"Yes."
"I'm sick of renting; let's buy a house."
"We should write up our wills."
"I think I'm ready for kids."
"Your aunt Marie freaks me out."
"Why can't you just pick up after yourself?"
"I hate you."
"I think we should get a divorce."

Meh, something like that. _____ had a line, too, and you ignored her, ignored it. Maybe she should have stressed a different word. Maybe she should have replaced the word vocation with career. Maybe she should not have wasted her breath on you and just issued that particular line to someone else. And maybe she did. Maybe someone out there was smart enough to use the advice that you were given so long ago. Maybe they're successful now. But maybe not.

The one thing that has helped you get through these decades is your belief that life is nothing more than a series of random events, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Moira cruises the streets of Time with her buddies, doing drive-bys. Call it fate, call it kismet, call it whatever you like. It's called life - life whose timeline is governed more by who slept-in than who awoke on time, who caught more red lights than who caught green, who called in sick and enjoyed a summer's day than who went to work pissed off, who left work early and kissed her kids 'hello' than who stayed late kissing the boss's ass.

It's you, the person who go against the grain, who holds the real power. So, shake things up. Throw out that alarm clock. (In fact, do one better and rid yourself of all your clocks.) Eat breakfast for supper, quit that class you hate, drop by a friend's house without calling first. Ignore that piece of advice _____ gave you. It was worthless anyway. (Trust me.)