How I Met Your Father: The Game

Picture it...

Collinsville, 1998. Basketball season. I was a senior in high school sitting in a musty, old gym watching my brother play a JV basketball game on a Saturday afternoon. I had some pivotal "senior in high school" type decisions weighing heavily on my mind. Your uncle's best friend had travelled to the game with my parents and me. I was sitting beside him. I sort of knew him because he was at our house a lot and we went to church together, so I figured I would use him as a sounding board.

I might have made the decision making process just a tad bit more dramatic than it had to be, but there really was a lot to consider. I was trying to decide what to do with my life and I was 18 years old. Anyway, I was asking John's friend what he thought about the whole situation. Should I become single for the first time in 4 years? Should I go somewhere far off to school? I had been researching the University of Hawaii and it was looking very promising. (Not only was I dramatic, but delusional as well.)

I'm sure you'll be surprised to know that the 17 year-old guy to whom I was spilling my guts didn't offer much in the way of advice. He basically just listened to everything I had to say and nodded his head approvingly all the while watching the basketball game with considerable intensity. .(*Hint: This is called foreshadowing.) You know when you ask someone for their opinion but you are really just looking for them to agree with what you have already decided to do? Well, that's what I needed at the time and he played the part quite well. I already knew what I had to do, but I just needed to say it out loud and have someone else hear it. So, on that fateful day in the Collinsville gym, a decision was made. A decision that would come back to haunt me. Within months, it would take me down a path of almost unbearable darkness but ultimately...it would lead to the light of my life.

To Be Continued...

Read Part 2