What If…

I\’ve been back from South Dakota for a few days now, and even though my trip was too short and went too fast, I was happy to have gone and spent some quality time with my family. I love every trip home, and sometimes I can\’t help but wonder how different my life would be if I had never left South Dakota in the first place.

George Mason would have never happened for starters. I more than likely would have ended up going to my mom\’s alma mater, the University of South Dakota (USD). What if I had gotten that full ride journalism scholarship there? Would I be a journalist right now? Would I have still realized that maybe that wasn\’t what I wanted to do anymore? Would I have kept up swimming, whether it be the varsity team or a club team – do they even have a club team?? What kind of friends or relationships would I have? My entire life as I know it now could have ended up completely different simply based on which state I attended college in. 

There are many things I can think of that would have been awesome about staying in SD. For one thing, I could potentially afford to buy a house by now (assuming my salary was similar to what it is now) instead of living in a teeny tiny apartment that costs two arms and a leg to rent. I could have a dog. Holy cow I can\’t tell you how badly I want my own dog. The only things stopping me right now is the fact I work an hour away from home and that I don\’t have a yard. If I lived in SD, I guarantee you I could knock out at least one of those things. My commute to work would probably be a quarter of what it is now. I often think to myself on the way to work, \”Hmm I could drive to Brookings from Watertown in less time than it takes me travel 20 miles to work..\” It would definitely make arranging dentist and doctor appointments much easier if I worked closer to home!

But most importantly, if I still lived in SD, I would get to see my family a heck of a lot more often than I do now. Phone calls are nice, but not quite as nice as being together in person. If I had gone to USD, I\’m willing to bet I would have gone home quite often since I wouldn\’t have been too far away. I wouldn\’t miss out on important life events like my grandparent\’s birthday celebrations, and I would get to see my relatives that live in faraway states when they come home to visit. I could hang out with my siblings more often, and my parents wouldn\’t have to text me saying they missed me when they all went out for a family dinner because I would be there! People ask me all the time if it\’s hard living so far away from my family. Heck yeah it\’s hard! It downright sucks a lot of the time. But there are also a lot of reasons that I can be forever grateful for taking a chance and moving so far away.  

Like I said earlier, I wouldn\’t have gone to George Mason University. I\’ve had so many wonderful opportunities that have come from George Mason, and so many memories that I would never trade for anything. I\’m grateful for the Club Swimming program they have, without which I wouldn\’t have made all these wonderful friends and wouldn\’t have traveled up and down the entire East Coast. I wouldn\’t have gone to Malta for two weeks freshman year if I hadn\’t met Andrew through swimming (special shout out to him and his family for letting me crash on their couch for so long!) and even thanks to one of my coaches, I have a job at the United States Department of Energy. All of this came from one activity, and I guarantee you none of it would have happened if I had gone to USD.

I\’ve never attended any other college so I don\’t have anything to compare it to, but most of the classes I took at GMU were relatively small attendance wise, and this allowed me to make connections with my professors that I don\’t think I could have made at a different school. I became very close with some of them, and this made it a lot easier for me to reach out to them or go to their office hours for help if I needed it. It made me feel good that they knew who I was and exactly what I was struggling with instead of just being another number in their classroom. There are two professors that stick out to me particularly because they really helped paved my way to graduation and life after college. Both of them taught a different marketing research course, which was my main focus in working towards a marketing degree. One of them helped me land my first job at Rockbridge Associates, and the other nominated me for a huge marketing award that I ended up receiving. Both of these things have given me experience and recognition for my hard work, and both will help me in my future career goals. I couldn\’t have made it this far without them!

And of course if I had never moved to VA, I would never have met Nate or his family! It didn\’t take long for them to make me feel like VA was home. We\’ve gone on many adventures together, and they\’ve helped me through some difficult times. When I lost my job last year, they let me come stay with them for a week and they helped me get some feelers out for other jobs and helped me improve my resume and cover letter. I appreciated that so much! I\’ve learned many life lessons from them, and they definitely help ease the homesickness whenever I am missing South Dakota. 

Finally, I think one of the most valuable things that has come out of moving across the country is how much I have grown since graduating from high school. I wouldn\’t have admitted it five years ago, but I lived a very sheltered life when I still lived at home. I\’m not saying this was bad. It kept me out of trouble and I excelled at school and swimming because that\’s really all I focused on. But when I moved to Virginia, I didn\’t know anyone and I didn\’t know anything about the area. I was thrown in head first to a completely different experience and I had to fend for myself if I was going to make it through. That\’s one reason I am so glad I chose to go so far away from home. If I had gone to USD, I could have (and would have) run home every time something got too challenging. Out here, I was forced to power through it on my own and I think that made me a much stronger person. I think back to how I was in high school compared to how I am now, and I like who I am now a million times more than the person I used to be. I am so much more confident in myself than I was back then. I\’m still very shy, but I think I have definitely come out of my shell since moving away. Now, I feel like there\’s nothing I can\’t do!

So while there are many things that would have been great had I stayed in SD, I can\’t deny that moving away and discovering life outside of a small state was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Maybe someday I\’ll find my way back to SD, but I think I have some more exploring to do first! (Sorry mom and dad)

Until next time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger