Why Dads and Bacon Cheeseburgers Are Better Than Boys

So here’s the thing about signs: sometimes signs can be misleading. That doesn’t mean I won’t notice a sign when it comes my way. But I guess I have to be a little less trusting of them. I want everything to work out the way I picture it in my head and I find every reason for it to happen. So when it doesn’t: I am extra disappointed. And yeah, it’s a bummer. But at the end of the day, I’m left feeling like I was the one that did something wrong because I trusted fate and it let me down.

Serendipity is about accidents. The true fortunate accidents are just that: accidents. And here I am, not following my own advice, trying to make things happen. That was my goal at the beginning of the year: to stop sitting around and waiting for things to happen to me and start making things happen. But I totally looked at it the wrong way. And tonight I realized: if it’s right, it really does just happen.

This year has really been a year of discovering what I really like to do and what I hope to get out of this fun game we call life. Ultimately, I’ve discovered two things: My one and only true love is writing (It has everything I am looking for in a relationship and more. It will always be there for me. It will make me happy when I am sad. And most importantly, it will always feel right.). The second thing I discovered this year is life doesn’t start when I graduate high school or even when I graduate college and start my career. Life is happening, right now. And I can’t stop it.

Even tonight I talked to my dad about risks. We went to Perkins and pulled an Addison Montgomery from Private Practice. Last week, she’s putting away a big old greasy bacon cheeseburger, and she admits she wants to get fat because of her problems with men. I can’t say I share her desire to put on some weight—so naturally, I only I ate half my bacon cheeseburger. And you know what? It was the best damn bacon cheeseburger I’ve ever had. (Ok, it was from Perkins. So that is the biggest lie. But at the same time it isn’t a lie because I got out of it what I was supposed to.) But I digress.

The cheeseburger did make me realize something, though. Addison wanted to eat a cheeseburger to get rid of her problems with men. She could be fat and happy and never have to deal with heartbreak again because she wouldn’t have a man. But that’s just as bad as not taking any risks at all. We put ourselves out there not knowing what’s going to happen or sometimes what we even want to happen. And sometimes things aren't going to work out. Life is a series of messy, awkward, terrifying moments in chronological order. We are bound to mess up and have moments that seem horrific at the time. But the best way to turn those mistakes into merely accidents is to find a way to connect the good signs to the good times.

“My fortune cookie said my Saturday night was supposed to be exciting!”

Dad: “It’s only 11:53!”

I love my dad.
(PS: I'm not giving up on serendipity. I am just not looking for it. Also not to get all super mushy and sentimental but I think I have to: I have the best friends in the entire world and really hope they know how much I appreciate having them in my life.)