Getting to know you.......Greatest event in your life

[lizcam]

So in order to get to know everyone better I have yet another of my random not-mini-related questions. What has been up to this point the single greatest even in your life?

This may be something wonderful and inspiring. It might be dark and depressing. But most of us have a turning point in our lives that set us on a path we walk for years. Some of us have had SEVERAL of these events.

I\'ve had several. A major car accident as a child followed by my parents joining a cult. Moving to California. Marrying the ex. Having my son. All of these things have shaped my path in life (not always to the better).

But I think the single most important thing was the moment I desided that I needed to divorce my ex. In that moment I found a strength in myself I never believed I had. I went from being a doormat (of sorts) to an alive woman with a free future.

Because of that moment, spurred on by a physical fight between my son and my husband, I saw clearly the paths ahead. I could see what my life would be like if I chose to stay and what it would be like if I walked away. I then found the courage to walk away and move in a new direction.

The changes? I\'ve discovered what I like in life. I\'ve taken control of things I left to others and hoped they were handling well (they weren\'t). I\'ve met and fallen deeply in love with a wonderful man who cherishes my indiviuality. My son has become self confidant and independant.

What is the biggest event in your life and how has it changed you?

 

[gohkm]

Conscription into the military, and, subsequently, finding the strength to have someone court-martialled and jailed. Popularity among your men is one thing, but as a non-com, I had to enforce discipline without losing the respect of my men. Taught me an awful lot about dealing with people.

Losing my grandfather without ever saying the things that needed saying. The lesson is obvious.

Studying in the UK and realizing that we all bleed red. Knocked a whole chunk of prejudices off me, especially when the people I thought would help me didn\'t, and the people who I thought never would help turned out to be the good guys after all.

Falling in lust. Nothing quite like it. Made me really careful about distinguishing between love and lust and infatuation, and had me turning incredibly choosy about my life partner.

Marrying my missus. Specifically, when I said the marriage vows and feeling the turning point in my life, the responsibility and the willingness to face up to that.

 

[freakinacage]

not had many tbh

one was on work experience. didn\'t like radiography as it was just button pushing but we had this fella in who had fallen asleep on his 3rd floor balcony and woken up on the floor. his face was a right mess. i decided then and there that radiography might be interesting after all!

first love. no one ever forgets that

falling in lust, as gohkm pointed out

seeing a mates copy of white dwarf back in the 90\'s (it\'s been downhill ever since)

 

[rocketandroll]

...oooh, a deep one Liz....

For me, probably the biggest was a commercial project I ran back in 2005. It started out as a dream come true, getting paid to do something I loved with some friends... but it went horribly wrong, the client screwed us over and didn\'t pay, I couldn\'t pay my friends, a lot of them turned on me and I ended up largely loosing the hobby which had been the biggest thing in my life for over 15 years and almost my whole base of friends in the space of a week or two. It took me almost three years to recover from that emotionally.

Made me re-evaluate what friends really are, and made me go out and find new hobbies (or re-visit old ones) to find new friends.... mini painting being one of them.

That... and finally making the decision to start up my own company. It meant four or five years of real financial pain for both me and my wife... but is finally paying off now and meaning we have a future we couldn\'t have dreamed of had we not taken that leap.


Ben

 

[AegisD]

I guess one of the biggest things that have shaped my life have been my mother\'s car accident, since she received a closed-wound head injury during it and now suffers form short term memory loss. So I have to look after her since she can\'t work any job above running a cash register. I don\'t resent her for it, but I wonder what my life would have been like if I could have moved away four years ago like I wanted to, instead of staying here and digging her out of all the debt my father left her with he divorced her.
Especially since the money the state promised me for college no longer exists, so the rest of my classes to become a pharmacist are sort of perpetually on hold now.

The other event being my best friend joining the armed services. We were supposed to join up together, but I couldn\'t get in because at the time I was on meds for OCD, which was a disqualifying factor. He joined anyway, and well... Yeah. I\'m happy for him, and he\'s only got five years left, but... I don\'t know. I\'ve never been good at making friends, so I just sort of quit going out after that. I still do stuff with my lady, but that\'s really it. It gets to me now and then, but for the most part I\'m happy.

 

[Bill]

Both of my parents getting cancer within about a year of each other.

 

[uberdark]

simple things for me.

birth of both of my children. marriage to my wife. the bad one was the suicide of my best friend. but all things shaped me into the man i am today.

 

[A Luna]

My best event was my depression I had for 2 years. After that I came out smarter than the average people of my age.

 

[PegaZus]

Every two years, like clockwork, huh Liz? Oh well, I like telling the story so it\'s easy to copy/paste:

posted on 9-28-2007 at 11:48 PM
Okay, I\'ll tell a story about my best moment. Those of you who don\'t like long posts may want to skip this. I don\'t know how long it\'ll get, and it is not going to start out good.

My parents divorced when I was 14. Great timing, huh?! Mom ran away with my dad\'s best friend. They\'d been having problems, and my father had taken steps to make the marriage work. Gotten his anger under control a lot better. Mind you, he never laid a finger on Mom or us kids. Took it out on objects, not people. It was even to the point where he was doing laundry! In my young teenage eyes, things were going to be all right the day I saw that. The world was a good place, and that everything was going to settle down and we\'d be a happy family again. For the first time in a long time, I wasn\'t worried about how life was going.

Mom left that weekend. In the middle of the night, with no goodbye.

I turned bitter and cynical. Not hard for a teenager in the best of situations, and life had really layered on the misery. I was even sent to counseling with a psychiatrist. Dad was concerned that I was angry. NO! REALLLLY?! The doc, after about four or five sessions, told my Dad not to waste money on his services. I was normal, and I was going to be pissed for a long time. Remarkably, I didn\'t turn to drugs or alcohol, and I didn\'t think about suicide. Murder, however, did occur a couple of times in my twisted little mind. I guess I was too smart for my own good; I never could think of a way to do it where I wouldn\'t be caught.

Luckily, college was the escape I was looking for. I sat down when it came time to apply to different places with a map of the US. Around every relative I knew well enough to visit, I drew a six-hour drive and didn\'t apply to any college that was in those circles. Far enough away that I wouldn\'t be expected to go visit every weekend, but enough that I could make it places during holidays.

Got a full ride scholarship at Northwestern Mississippi State, but declined. I was accepted at Duke. Or was it North Carolina State? I don\'t recall, but it was too far away. Friends of mine who were basketball fans were appalled that I wasn\'t going to go, since the school was high on the national rankings at the time. And so, the choice was made: Uni of Missouri at Rolla. Had a dorm room assigned and a roommate named.

Then, two weeks before their deadline, I get a glossy brochure from the University of Colorado at Boulder. An aerial shot of the campus took my breath away. Anybody that\'s been through there will probably agree that it’s a beautiful place. They had the degree I wanted, and a really strong program. I asked to go, and was given the green light. Got accepted and headed off to the mountains.

It snows in Colorado. A LOT, at times. That year it snowed in November, and that snow lasted until February. I\'ve got pictures of it. I think it was somewhere around 18 inches or so (half a meter for our metric friends). I, being a freshman, was required to live on campus. Off I trudge in this deep, deep snow to class. Still bitter, mind you. And now I have to go to class, in the snow, uphill. I won\'t cliche it by saying it was both ways. Walking to class takes twenty minutes or so. And I think it was an 8AM class, so I got up early. Hard to imagine now anything that late being \"early\", but such is life. I\'m running a little late, but that shouldn\'t be a big issue. It was a big class, and halfway across campus from the dorms. Probably lots of people are late. I finally make it to the doors of the room.

It’s empty. All classes have been canceled. Rather than being the happy schoolboy released from the shackles of learning, I\'m pissed even more. I got up for this? I walked in the cold and the snow for a CANCELED notice?

At this point, I probably didn\'t need a jacket. I\'m steamed. I could probably walk naked and melt a good radius of snow around me instantly.

So, I did what comes naturally. I decide to go back to bed. Out the door, down the sidewalk back to the dorm. It appears that I\'m the ONLY person on campus who didn\'t connect \"big snow\" and \"classes will be canceled\". So, with an enrollment of 50,000 students, I\'m the ONLY one outside. And since the roads are so icy and blocked, there are no cars out and about. No birds to chirp, no windows blaring music. It is Quiet. End of the World Quiet. And then I walk down a small road between two dorms to get to another sidewalk.

And I stop.

On my left and right are pine trees filled with enormous pillows of snow. The road is solid white and perfect. No tires tracks; no foot path. Above is a sky the most wonderful shade of royal blue you could imagine, unbroken by even the smallest cloud or wisp. I\'d only seen that shade once before, in a dream. (Yes, I dream in color.) All of this with CU\'s red sandstone buildings as backdrop. And what is framed by all this? The Flatirons. Sheer rock faces tilted an almost an unbelievable angle.

And so I stand there. Five minutes. Maybe ten. For all I know I stood fixed at that spot for an hour. Unmoving; my breathing and my heart the only things breaking the silence.

And in that time, all my hurt, all my anger, bitterness, resentment and pain was sucked away. And I was happy.

Not your ordinary happy, mind you. This was what the Buddhists call nirvana. I was happy for anything and everything. Hungry? What joy! Full? Equally soothing! Cold? Hot? Wet? Dry? None of it mattered. I was happy to be where ever I was, doing what ever I was doing, and was happy.

So that day was the greatest moment in my life. Not when I got married. Not when the kids were born. Just one, simple, beautiful day when all the pain left.

Cheers!

 

[slah]

High point: The birth of my daughter 3 years ago.

Low point: When my daughter was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis 2 years ago.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

@slah - Man, sorry about your daughter....




Getting SLAMMED with depression when I was 11 years old.

Kissing Jackie Andrews at the Turnabout Dance in 10th grade - my first date.

Throwing the winning pitch in a very hotly contested baseball game! That day, I was DA MAN!!

The day Jesus appeared to me. It says in the Bible that \"His love is so great that it\'s beyond comprehension\".......I understood what that meant.

Backpacking in the Desolation Wilderness - http://vimeo.com/1391747

The death of my parents...............

 

[Hovis]

I don\'t have alot of greatest events

Getting down to 118 lbs and being like 6% body fat was cool because I was ultra skinny but bad at the same time as I barley ate.

But I suppose going back up to 130lbs was good because I cheered up loads, wasn\'t so neurotic and my knees stopped hurting.

I had weight issues and there is no empticon to express how I feel Lol

 

[waghorn41]

Number one has to be realising that my abusive father got his kicks from hurting me mentally and realising what a pathetic evil being he was. After that moment of revelation I became a much stronger person inside.

Sue accepting my proposal, we\'ve been together for 26 years now!

Being at the birth of all my 5 kids.

When doing some family history research I enquired about which awards my late uncles would have received. The medals were sent to me as they had never been claimed by their parents. These young men (brothers) died aged 20 and 19 just 6 months apart. Add to this I then met the best friend of one of the uncles who was able to give me information and photos from his private collection.

 

[AinuLainour]

I hereby retract most of my previous post from Liz\'s earlier thread and...

... moving to Toronto from Vancouver. Moving into residence in downtown Toronto and living alone for the first time. Music continues to be a huge part of my life: playing, watching, hearing, and discovering.

 

[Roy Rogers]

I can honestly say I have never been moved to tears from reading anything in these forum\'s, before today. My heart, and admiration goes out to everybody here. It\'s strange about what life throw\'s at us to make us who, what, and where we are.

My low\'s include almost bleeding to death internally from a bad skiing accident where I picked a fight with the biggest oak tree on the mountain. My sentence, I mean marriage to my ex-wife, and getting my little brother involved with her sister. Who subsequently spent the next 10 years destroying him utterly. Feeling responsible for their meeting, and falling in love. Which led to the destructive outcome of the inevitable divorce which has ripped him, and his three beautiful children to shreds has filled me with regret that I just cant shake.

The highs for me are serving the divorce papers to my ex, and becoming a stronger man from it. Meeting my new, wonderful wife of the last 10 years. Holding a new born baby in my arms.
Saving a child, and his dog from a ravenous pitbull while working as a cable technician here in San Diego.
And rescuing a blind, freshly born little stray kitten who has become a huge, healthy leader of the pack around my place.

I am a frim believer in kharma, and treating everyone, and everything around you like it is a precious, perishable thing. To never take anything or anyone for granted. Because you never know when it can all be taken away...

Peace everybody

 

[evil tendencies]

When I was 18, my uncle Brad was diagnosed with a class 4 brain tumor. The events of his death ripped me apart, but in my pain I accepted Christ. On May 25, 1998, my whole life changed for the first time.

Five years later to the day, I was getting baptized at a local gym and a guy had a heart attack. I led the rescue team, including administering an AED shock, and the guy ended up living. The connection between a new life in Christ and saving a life has never left me.

Then, three years ago I was severely hit with anxiety and depression and was left shaking on the couch at home for two years. We moved, started going to a new church and the pastor and a good gaming buddy prayed with me to the point where I was able to believe in the salvation I had accepted 11 years earlier.

In the meantime I completed 6 years of college, got shot at by sherm-heads, saw children die on the street, got married, and ran a business - but these three events sort of form the frame that all these others things hang on.

Thanks for the opening, Liz. You really do a lot for the community here, and I appreciate it greatly.

 

[demonelf3]

Well, it\'s only been 16 years, but what the hell. Obviously everyone likes their first kiss, mine was fun but in hindsight I sort of regret it. Learning to paint was nice, from the winter of eigth grade to today, the fall of junior year. Winning 4th at GenCon in 2 categories was one of the happiest moments of my year, and on my 16th birthday I outwrestled a senior to win a tournament that I didn\'t expect to.

The negatives (some of which will sound naive and untruthful): Becoming ever more cynical and sarcastic with my school peers due to their reaction upon learning that I paint. Now it\'s a closet hobby. Having to deal with the increased and disgustingly irritating theatrics of my mother, who\'s withdrawing from benzodiazepines.

Oh and one more good thing, I have finally set goals for after high school: a degree in biochemistry hopefully leading to medical school. Ok, done sharing!

 

[ScottRadom]

Hmm... lot\'s of deepness going on here. Slah, you have my thoughts.

I guess I am very happy with my life. I had just enough craziness go on to not feel like I\'ve missed out on anything, but not too much that I have regrets about my younger days.

I was engaged to be married when I was pretty young. 19 actually. My wife to be got pregnant and actually lost the baby at about 5 months due to complications. Things got bad and we split. We were young. And she kinda sucked anyway, in hindsight. She didn\'t leave me with much in terms of furniture or anything, but she WAS nice enough to leave a PILE of debt in my name behind. Shortly after we split, she got together and pregnant with another dude who beat the hell out of her and got sent to jail for a pile of stuff. So HA! on her!

So good things. Been married for 7 years now. Some days it\'s work, but what isn\'t? two great kids. Maximillian who\'s 5 and my daughter Emerson who\'s 2.

Really happy I found the internet to help my love of my painting hobby grow.

Dunno, doesn\'t sound too exciting. But I am a pretty happy dude.

 

[exilesjjb]

One of my greatest moments was moving my wife to tears with a birthday present. She had just spent 6 months house bound with 2 collapsed disc and was home after an operation on her spine where they had removed 3 discs(another had collapsed) she was dreading the days alone again. She had always gone on about her dolls house that she had as a child so I bought her a dolls house kit. That turned out to be her salvation where as before she had to fight to get herself off the bed now she was up early and planing her house, there was a shop about a mile from our house and she was so into the dolls house she walked there and back every other day to buy bits. Before long she was back to full fitness and back at work. She now has 2 houses and a dolls garden!!!
My other was in 2005 meeting my older brother who had been adopted at birth, but that is another story.

 

[Chrome]

Heavy and high moments in my life? I do have a few, maybe not as strong as most I read about here but still, they\'re mine.

Getting my first model kit from my uncle and inheriting my fathers set of Humbrols when I was about 6 or 7. This really made me feel very grown up, especially since I was allowed to wash my brushes by myself!

My parents divorce when I was almost 8, that shook my world and tore my picture of it asunder. In hindsight it might just have been the best thing that ever happened to me since it gave me two new siblings.

My mother getting exophtalmic goitre and needing to eat medicine the rest of her life to be able to get nourishment from her food. It was a good tumor though and after the operation she went on living a normal life in all other extents.

My second youngest sister being diagnosed with both AD/HD and Authism, us finally finding out how to deal with her \"mood swings\"

The fear when my youngest sister had to go to the hospital due to some kind of heart failure and the relief when the doctors said it wasn\'t as bad as it looked and that it was something fairly common that would go away as she grew older, which it did.

My father and his wife kicking my older sister out of the house. A few years later they did the same to me. After a few years of soap-like intrigues and lie-spitting(info I definitely don\'t mind sharing but it\'s better to leave the details to those that are interested) both my sister and I ended our relationship with our father and now I haven\'t spoken to him in more than five years.

Doing the military service, one of the greatest moments in my life and I am pretty sure It will stay that way.

While in the military, my squad being two minutes away from vaporizing our entire defence platoon with live artillery fire due to some moron giving us the wrong coordinates. Lucky for us all, the defence platoon was ahead of schedule with said two minutes. Later they told us they had both felt and seen the impacts while on vehicle march away from their camping area where the grenades hit. I have never In my life felt so small like I did at that very moment.

Me getting hospitalized after my back started hurting so much it made me faint. I remember literally wishing myself dead at that moment. I still have no clue what was wrong. Suffice to say, I try to keep my back exercised nowadays, just in case.

Realizing how I felt about my sambo and finding out that she felt the same was both one of the best and one of the worst moments this far, it cost me a friend but I gained a wonderful partner whom I cherish more than anything.

I guess that is my current list of good and bad memories, I believe I had more than I thought...