Sliding doors

Have you ever thought about those decisions that could have taken your life in a completely different direction?

I am sat here and I should be doing a bunch of exam revision, but I found my memory drifting back to when I lived in a friend’s house.  His mother was a nurse and had served for quite a while in the NHS.  As well as putting a roof over my head when the only alternative I had was a park bench, she did her best to sort me out with a job.

Exploring my options I phoned up my local college to get on a welding course and just so happened to speak to the head of the Engineering course who invited me in for an interview, I was accepted onto a HNC course and started my life in Engineering.  However, had he not answered the phone or had I phoned at a different time and not spoken to him I may not have got onto that course.  Incidentally, the HNC wasnt the course I phoned up to enroll in – it just so happened that I took up the offer of the interview on the off-chance.  I lived in my friends 6ft by 8ft spare room for over a year whilst I studied for my HNC.

If I had not enrolled on the course then my other option was with the NHS.  My friends mum knew my love of motorcycles and had been talking to the local ambulance controller, with a view to getting me started down the path to becoming a motorcycle paramedic.  I would have started as an ambulance technician and had to work my way up.  But, because of the college offer I never took it any further.

Sadly, she passed on a few years back, but I still think of her and how she took me in – a relative stranger and gave me foundation to my life and helped me build what I have got now.  Its funny how people touch your life.

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