In my early twenties, I gained a new outlook on life. Not exactly a quick and exciting adventure full of life-changing occurrences, but rather a slow awakening with some bumps in the road.

Life leading up to then was like being on autopilot. I went to school, hung out with friends, and went to rock concerts. I wore what everyone else wore. I talked how everyone else talked (although I can now say that I had a much better vocabulary). I skipped class and played enough sports to end up dating the captain of the cheer squad. My present course landed me engaged to my high school sweetheart and heading into the third year of a college degree that I didn’t understand. Just another poor sap that had already peaked and was doomed to burn out.

And years later I found myself wondering what would have happened had I not gone home that day. Would I have followed down my dismal path if I hadn’t found my fiancé’s French teacher ‘instructing’ her on our bed?

Instead, I chose to walk away and found my future in a little shop. Sometimes the most unusual encounters are the ones that change us forever.