Jill's Journal: Ordinary Jill

A new TV show joined the prime time lineup this fall, called “Ordinary Joe.” The show essentially tells the story of Joe, and explores three possibilities of where his life could take him, all of which hinged on the decisions he made on his college graduation day.

Of course, it’s only fodder for TV, but it got me to thinking about where my life may have taken me if I had made different choices in life.

From high school, I ventured to a two-year journalism/photography program in Iowa, and unlike some of my college peers, I didn’t move onto a four-year school. Instead, I plunged myself into the work world, securing my first “big girl” reporting job at a community weekly newspaper in Hawarden, Iowa.

If I’m honest, I wasn’t completely happy there, and it was a chance conversation with the secretary at the tiny community college that was there at the time, that I found myself going to an interview for a reporter position in Luverne, Minn.

If I hadn’t shared my honest feelings with Mrs. Gambiana that day, it’s possible that Luverne and I would’ve never crossed paths.

I called Luverne my home for the next 11 years. I was just in my early 20s and I had a lot of living to do, new things to try and people to meet. 

From Luverne, my decisions took me a hop, skip and a jump down the road to Sioux Falls, which I called home for the next 10 years of my life. 

For two of those years, I commuted to nearby Parker, where I edited the local newspaper there for a couple of years before deciding a change of career was in the cards.

That’s where I met one of my best friends yet today. I made my living as an administrative assitant for the next eight years, that was until the aftermath of 9/11 turned my full-time job into a part-time position. And that surely wasn’t going to cover the bills.

My next big decision in life led me back to journalism and a two-year stint editing the weekly newspaper in Garretson. And when the opportunity to slide into the editor’s chair in Brandon came along, once again, I made the decision to uproot myself from my Sioux Falls abode to Brandon.

That was in 2005, and from my view, it’s one of the best decisions I made.

Had I not taken the advaice of a colleague that “Brandon was the place for me,” who knows where life’s path would’ve taken me.

In 2016, when my former employer announced that my position was being eliminated, I knew I wasn’t ready to leave Brandon and the life and relationships that I had built here over the last 11 years. So, when a friend told me that he supported my idea to start up a new weekly newspaper and shopper in Brandon, my decision to do just that came quickly.

Although it would be interesting to go back and have a do-over, so to speak. But as they say, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence. 

It’s interestig how our decisions take us from one point of our lives to the next. But it’s what we do with our lives, in our actions, thoughts, words and deeds after those big decisions are made that are really the true reward.

I don’t know about you, but this “Ordinary Jill” is clearly satisified with the decisions she’s made in life.