Writing Prompt: Decision Point

This time we had a bit of a different writing prompt and got to take it back as homework. The prompt was to write about a decision you made in 200 words or less. The result is more personal than I normally write.

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Courtenay Place. A warm autumn evening. I was having MSG-soaked noodle soup as drunken and well up for it boys and girls were filtering into the bar district. My main preoccupation was going home, battling a cold and tired from being out the night before. Sleep, precious sleep. Then I got a text from Joel, urging me to come out for drinks. I hadn’t shaved, wasn’t dressed for it and definitely wasn’t in the mood. But with job prospects slim, my Belgian pal might be leaving for home soon, so this could be the last week I would have with the best friend I had made since arriving in the country. We like to think our lives are storybooks and the most important decisions in our lives are foreshadowed as momentous.

But the only consequence I sensed was foregoing a couple hours of sleep. I entered the dim lit basement club and saw Joel chatting to a girl. Her friend was standing to the side, looking bored. Like a dutiful wingman, I swooped in and introduced myself to my future wife.

Now six years and two kids later, I always choose the extra sleep, but I’m glad for the last time that I didn’t.