I’ve had trouble sleeping as of late. Instead of giving me the rest I very much need to get through my last finals, my brain is playing its greatest hits of memories as I lie wide awake in my bed at 3 a.m.
To be honest, I am getting sick of it, and I desperately need a full night of sleep. However, my midnight reflection sessions have given me great insight into my life — specifically the last four years of my college career. And the most impactful takeaway I’ve discovered is how much of my life, including the most important things, has happened because of complete dumb luck.
Take, for instance, my role at The Pitt News. This newspaper has been arguably the most important aspect of my time at Pitt. However, I never intended to join it when I first stepped on campus nearly four years ago, and I probably never would if it wasn’t for one nasty thunderstorm.
I joined TPN at the fall club fair during my first semester at Pitt. I had looked forward to the fair all summer because I knew it was my chance to meet new people and hopefully join something meaningful. However, after over an hour of searching and talking, I came up empty and failed to join a single club.
But then, the sky opened up.
In usual Pittsburgh fashion, the once-sunny day quickly turned sour, and I began to run for cover to escape the downpour. However, as I trotted through the mud-soaked grass outside the Cathedral, I spotted a table for a club that piqued my interest. I briefly talked with the two equally soaked people representing the club, and less than a month later, I was a staff writer on the sports desk at The Pitt News.
It is hard for me to imagine what my life would be like if the Pittsburgh weather hadn’t gnashed its teeth at the Pitt club fair that day. I probably never would have joined The Pitt News. That’s 100 articles I would have never written, four planes I would have never ridden, dozens of friends I would have never met and one Oxford comma I would have never known about.
Much of my college career was like this — a series of right places, right times that has brought me to where I am today. Even the next chapter of my life has been like this, as I prepare to attend Wake Forest Law School — a place I would have never even applied to if Pitt hadn’t played its football team in the 2021 ACC Championship.
I have my theories about fate and blessings, but I don’t have the space to share them here. The only piece of advice I can give is to take some time to appreciate the random in life — the moments of complete coincidence and chance that make you who you are over time. I know I am appreciative of the rainstorms and wrong turns that have made me, me.
So thank you to all the people that dumb luck brought my way over the past four years. Specifically, I want to shout out my past editors — Stephen, Dalton, Richie and Jermaine — for helping me along the way. I also want to thank Ryleigh Lord for giving me the opportunity to be managing editor this year. Of course, I wish all the future editors and writers of TPN luck as well — you will all do great.
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