Othello

Have any of you ever played the game Othello (excluding anyone in my family)?  I love this game which is odd because it is a strategy game and I generally don't like those too much.  Basically, you have to get as many disks flipped over to your color as possible.  The slogan on the box says "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master", and that is pretty accurate.  My mom used to play this game with her dad, and my mom played it with me.  Growing up she used to let me win, which I didn't realize until I was older.  When I did realize, I told her to stop doing that.  It was a big deal if I beat my mom and an even bigger deal if I beat my  grandpa.  This has a point, I promise.

This is the exact box that my family has!  It even tells you how to play on the side if you are curious.  

Recently, I have been going through a lot of transition dealing with things that all adults have to deal with.  I fell like it is all being pushed on me all at once...probably because it is.  The life points are really coming in full force these days, which is good, but also is overwhelming.  You name it and I am dealing with it.  My student loans are coming in at a jaw dropping amount per month, I need to register my dads car in his name but get a NC license plate on it (still don't know how that works), I got my own auto insurance (by God's grace I am paying $40 less than I budgeted in), I had a job at the coffeehouse but I quit that to take a better paying job which doesn't start until the end of October (which is the same time my loans start becoming due), I am really homesick for Michigan fall, I really miss all of my friends and family back home in the Mid-West, it took me forever to get a North Carolina driver's license (which I finally accomplished), and I am sure the list could go on.  One of my most recent battles is debating whether or not to consolidate my loans.  I am between a rock and a hard place in this situation.  If I consolidate, I can't defer my loans when I go back to grad school (this is bad), but I have a lower monthly payment which allows me to save more for grad school (this is good).  If I don't consolidate, I face paying a goliath amount of my money every month (bad), but I can defer them once I start school again (good).  I will spare you the rest of the details, the point is, what do I do?

I was kind of freaking out last night so I started pondering and all I could think about was Othello.  As a kid, I would always go for the moves that got an entire row of my mom's pieces to flip over and she would always choose to place her piece where only one or two of mine would get flipped.  When I understood the game a little better I realized that she was picking the most strategic places to put her piece.  Sometimes, the most tempting choice is not the wisest in the end.  Most of the time I would imagine.

So in case you were wondering, I am not going to consolidate my loans...which will be the tougher course of action.  But God has gotten me this far and I know He won't let me down now.  I have a roof over my head, food, clothes, friends, family and just enough money per month to pay for all of these loans (hardly something I call a coincidence).  God has His hand in my life and I just need to let Him do His thing.  It will all work out in the end and I will be a stronger person because of it.