6. If Something is Going to Change Your Life, Let It

When he asked me what else I did I wasn’t exactly sure what he was referring to. I was confused by his question and I am sure the look on my face said it all.
“This is it.” I replied very quickly. I was not sure if this conversation was one I wanted to venture off into. Generally, while working at a truck stop fuel desk many of the truck drivers will talk to you about anything. They have been on the road for hours or days, and some drivers have been on the road for years with no family to go home to. Regular drivers feel a sense of belonging when they stop at the same place to fuel when passing through. Their routine suddenly involves you, and they want to talk. So I was not shocked by the personal question. Some of the men could be very blatant, as if their intent was to see if they could embarrass you. Some of the girls that I worked with enjoyed flirting with them. However, I was careful to not let conversations get out of line, so I proceeded with caution.
His eyes seemed to pierce through me, but only for a moment. His gaze lowered to the change I had placed in his hand from his purchase. As he shoved the coins in his pocket he began telling me about the Ivy Tech College campus in our town. I listened to the information he offered me about the new location. I had not realized there was an Ivy Tech in town. He opened the bottle of soda he purchased, and took a swing, raised the bottle to me, as if in a toast, and said “You know you could be so much more.”
“I have been thinking about going for a long time,” I said as I watched him walk out into the parking lot.
Those hollow, unmotivated words had been my response for the past ten years when I was approached about going to college. I was not lying, I had thought about going to college since I had graduated high school. That was as far as I got. I never did anything other than think about it. This time, and I do not know why, a complete stranger impacted me with words I had heard over and over by my family. I knew that I could do more in life than be a fuel attendant in a truck stop. I had made very good grades in school, but I had lacked the confidence in myself enough to enroll in college. I heard him saying, “You know you can be so much more,” over and over in my mind. I became excited at the thought of acting on the thought of going to school, enough that I began to make phone calls inquiring on the process I would need to follow to enroll. I began my first semester at Ivy tech in January of this year, approximately three weeks after his motivating words. I have three children and I am thirty one years old. I am changing the course of my life. To the Holland driver out of Illinois, thank you.