Single experience made me grow up the most in my life

“I have a daughter I have to support; I can’t be with someone who sleeps on one family member’s couch after the other and works enough to pay his cellphone bill.”

Those were her words to me.

And she was right.

We had known each other since we were little kids but had only been dating for six months prior to this conversation.

She had been working as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) working double shifts as a single mother while going to college to become a nurse to support her and her daughter from the time she was 18.

I was 24 and was on pace to becoming a perpetual learner with no plans of ever leaving college.

I was a drifter with a large and supportive family who literally let me sleep on their couch whenever I wanted.

My car was given to me by my dad when I graduated high school.

I only had to work to pay my $70 cellphone bill.

The rest of the time I read. All day. Every day.

She was right.

How could she be with me? As a single mother, she had to put her daughter and herself first.

She could not be with Peter Pan.

I had a decision to make:

Stay in Neverland and never grow up.
Be with Wendy and experience all that life has to offer.
I knew what I wanted was her; and I had a lot to prove.

The next day I called my Dad and asked if I he had any job openings I could have at his company.

All he had was the equivalent of a secretarial job that paid a whopping $8 an hour; it was the antithesis of any wanna-be philosopher.

I said, “I’ll take it,” and never looked back.

It took time, but eventually she was convinced that I was “growing up” and she stayed with me.

Fast forward six years and she is now my beloved wife.

And not only am I now fortunate enough to call her daughter my daughter — we even brought another little person into the world to create our happy little family of four.

No, I do not have my master’s or my Ph.D. like I had planned.

But what do I have instead?

Love. Peace. Joy.

Thank you, Audrey Beth, for challenging me to be a better man and making me the man I am today.