Have you ever had an opportunity to do something great for yourself or those around you? To make a life-changing decision?
When I was young, my parents made two life-changing decisions that gave my brother, my sister and me opportunities that our peers had not been given – one was easier than the other, but both were impactful. These two decisions have shaped the man that I am today.
The first of these two decisions rocked my world. It was something that my peers in my hometown of Warner Robins, Ga., never would have dreamed of – moving to Saudi Arabia. My entire life was altered when we moved to Saudi for my dad's job working with an aircraft contractor. While there, we lived on a compound (a.k.a. a gated community) with about 200 other families. Everyone knew everyone and the compound grew into a large community. Looking back, this almost seemed to foreshadow the experience I would eventually have at Darlington.
Moving to Saudi Arabia offered me the opportunity to live within another culture, to learn their customs and to discover within myself a passion to learn about others’ backgrounds. I learned not to be scared to ask questions about other beliefs or customs. I was challenged to constantly step outside of my comfort zone, to live within the confines of another belief system, and to try exotic foods. I mean, this was a place where showing the bottom of your foot and eating with your left hand were looked down upon, where stores closed for prayer time, and where women's rights movements were just gaining momentum. Without these challenges, I truly believe my family and I would not be as close as we are today.
Through this move to another part of the world, my parents made sacrifices to give my family what I thought was the biggest opportunity we would ever receive. But I was wrong. (If you read my last blog, you understand that I am wrong a lot!)
Eventually, we had to make another big decision in choosing where we would attend high school. You see, at the time I lived in Saudi Arabia, we had no high school options. All the expats who lived there had the option to return home or allow their children to go to boarding schools. My parents wanted to send us to Darlington because they felt it would be a place where we would be pushed and yet supported – a place where we would flourish.
But before I decided on my fate, they asked if I was ready to be changed. At the time, I didn’t know what they meant by that. To me, I was always going to be who I was. I didn’t know that this opportunity would actually make me into something more. I knew I would live in the dorms, make tons of friends, and go to college but looking back, I now understand how naïve I was. I found out that I could do things on my own - like clean my room, wash my dishes, do my laundry, and talk to new people with confidence. I would later see that these were skills many of my dorm mates lacked in college.
But my relationship with Darlington is about more than this. It's about the opportunity I had (and all of our students have) to grow into a larger family. The opportunity my parents gave to me when I chose Darlington is something I will never take for granted. You see, my family is now a part of something larger. We are – and always will be – a part of the Darlington family.
Opportunities are given to those who are willing to challenge themselves. And trust me – choosing to leave home at 15 was a BIG challenge. I know how tough it was for my parents to let their favorite child leave home as well. (Sorry Dusty (’02) and Jessica (’07) but we all know I was the favorite!) To this day, my parents call it “the toughest yet most rewarding decision” we ever made because Darlington was not just an opportunity for me to become a greater person – it challenged them to become greater as well.
