My mailbox was being flooded with acceptance letters. It was that time of my senior year. First came the one from Eastern Nazarene College. I stuck it on my wall, even though I didn’t really want to go to school there. It was memorabilia, the first official document from a college that actually wanted me. It was the first step of a new chapter. Next came Gordon. I had visited, but I wasn’t really feeling it. Maybe it was the icy blue color, but it felt cold to me. Champlain College was a real option for their radiography program, but it would only have been an associate’s degree, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go that route. Then I got the letter from Waynesburg, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. That was where I wanted to go. Maybe.

I had to make a final choice because deadlines were creeping up on me. The obvious one was Waynesburg: I wanted to go there and they sent me a decent financial aid package. The cost was much less than that of Gordon or Champlain. Later, though, I received my financial aid package from ENC. I was waiting for that one before I made the choice that would determine how and where I would spend the next four years of my life.

Let’s just say 1,000 dollars a year makes a difference in the long run. So, that’s how I picked ENC. I made the choice and I don’t regret it.

The friends I made my freshmen year at ENC have become an integral part of my life. There are people here for me, and I am here for them. My life would be so different without the relationships I have formed and am cultivating.

I also added another major while attending ENC. Would I have done that at a different college? I don’t know. Would my life be very different from now if I had chosen Waynesburg over ENC? Yes. In what ways specifically, though, I will never know. I like to think of that as a good thing. I moved forward, made a choice, am living with it, and am making the best of it.

Our lives are of our own making. They are constantly shaped by each action we take and each action we don’t. We choose to do one thing. You don’t know what would have happened if you chose the other. It could be better, or it could be worse. You can’t go back, though, because you already made your decision.

One thing is certain. Regretting making a choice is a choice. Leaving room for yourself to regret the choices you made is the entry way to living in the past. Make the choice to live in the present and embrace every moment. Take in every decision and make each one with care, but don’t over think it.