What got me to this point 1

Okay, the test post seems to have taken, and I have some time right now so I'll write a little bit more.
For a number of years I have been thinking seriously about entering seminary and the possibility of becoming a priest. I can't say for sure when the thought crossed my mind, but I know that I first seriously started thinking about it and considering that it might be where God wants me to be in about the fall of 2003, when I was at Sheppard Air Force Base I had a lot of free time to think, and this thought entered my mind. I guess it is kind of ironic that it would have been at Sheppard AFB with the analogy of the shepherd...
Let me backtrack for a minute. Prior to this time I had been raised a pretty good Catholic... we went to Mass most Sundays when I was little. I can remember as a little kid thinking about the priest in the front (Fr. Del Malin) and thinking "I could do that" but it was probably more just could I stand up there and say the words, I really didn't have a great concept of being a priest, that wasn't really raised as a possibility in life. That would have to be the first time I can say that I could point to as possibly guiding me in this direction, but it wasn't really thought about for a long time. After that I had a couple of times that it would cross my mind, but it would be dismissed from my thoughts before I even really thought about it.
Back to Sheppard AFB... I was having a wonderful time and dating enough that although I claimed to have considered the possibility of becoming a priest I never took it very serious and considered it only casually.
Fast forward to my return to UWSP (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) after my time gone for training for the Air Force. Prior to leaving for the Air Force I had been pursuing degrees in Forestry and Political Science for the academics and working at the Newman University Parish (www.newmanuwsp.org). I had a wonderful group of friends mostly based through the Newman Parish. So upon my return after a year away for training I slipped back in very comfortably. Most of my good friends were still there and some new friends to be made. I truly enjoyed spending my time at the Newman Center and working around the house that I had purchased with money saved during my year away.
In the fall of 2004, shortly after my return to UWSP I felt the need to talk to someone about my thoughts on possibly becoming a priest. I was very nervous about this. I wanted to talk to the pastor of Newman Parish, Fr. Tom Lindner, but I was worried that if I just dropped it out there in the open that I was thinking about it neither of us would know what to say, me what questions to ask, him how best to respond with me. So I decided that I would e-mail him to ask if we could talk about it on the annual Fall Retreat that Newman holds for students.
On the Fall Retreat I can remember going for a walk with Fr. Tom and one of the first things that I said was that I didn't want to be a priest, I wanted a "normal" life and such, but I thought that maybe God wanted me to be a priest so I better try to figure out how to determine that.
Father Tom was very supportive and just listened and answered what questions I had at that time... They probably weren't the best questions or the deepest thoughts, but they were what I had in my mind. He didn't give any super deep advice, just talked about where I took the topic. He recommended a few books and recommended that I visit a seminary with him after a while to talk to the people there.

I think that this is enough to type for now... I will write more later.