Ron Rapatalo

Sometimes the path we end up on starts with a decision we were sure we weren’t going to make.

Laura Saldivar Luna told me about her Teach For America story, and I loved how much uncertainty was packed into the beginning of it.

She met the recruiter at Georgetown and immediately thought: There is no way I’m applying for this.

Too selective.
Too intimidating.
And besides, everyone had already decided she was going to be a teacher.

Laura had other plans. She wanted to prove—to herself and to everyone else—that she could do all the things.

So she didn’t apply.

The deadlines passed.

And then an email arrived from Teach For America about a one-year fellowship at their New York City headquarters, where she could learn how the nonprofit actually worked.

A different door opened.

I think about how often we define our lives by the opportunities we think we’re supposed to pursue—or the ones we’ve already decided aren’t for us.

Sometimes the most interesting chapters begin somewhere you weren’t even looking.

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