The Opportunity

Dreams are silly but sometimes with a little help they do come true.

This is the story of how two strangers changed my life...

It was late at night on July 27, 2010. I had accidentally opened the wrong link; a link that would completely alter my life. The page opened up and there in bold print was the chance I had been looking for. It read:  2br - Waterfront Cottage/Petsit (Dec 1, 2010-March 31, 2011) (Hood Canal) I couldn’t believe my eyes. I opened the link further to get a better idea on the deal. It was what I had been waiting for. It was too late at night to do much about it but I was too excited to keep it to myself. I called one of my best friends to share the news. I told her all of the details I could find on the webpage and we gushed about how perfect an opportunity that would be. I should have been getting to bed but the phone call had only added to my excitement. So in an effort to calm myself down I typed a letter to the owners of the house begging for the opportunity. I pleaded my case and at the end of the email I signed it with “Dreams are silly but sometimes with a little help they do come true.” I sent the email the next morning and waited impatiently for a response. It was almost too good to be true and part of me didn’t expect to hear back from them or to get a letter of apology about the position already being filled. To my surprise I did receive an answer back and thankfully it was a good one. The email explained that they had not made a final decision yet and asked for more information on myself. I knew this could be my way in if only I could convince them to give me the chance. I answered back as quickly as I could and with as much heart felt sincerity that I could find. I explained some more about myself and my story. At the end I placed my cell phone number in case they wanted to call and speak with me and then thanked them for their consideration. I held my breath and crossed my fingers when I hit the send key. I didn’t know if that would help but I was sure willing to try it.  I received a new email from them the next day. They thanked me for writing back and disclosed some more information about the house and animals as well as some other details. She said that they would call me sometime and at the bottom they sent an application for me to fill out for if I remained interested. Ha! Of course I was interested! So I wasted no time in getting the application filled out and mailed off. During that time I received a call from the husband and spoke with him on more of the details. I was thrilled to be in such contact with them but I was constantly scared they would choose someone else. Not too long after the phone call, I received a new email. This one stated that they were worried about me feeling isolated in the house alone but that they had done similar things in their twenties. I responded trying to console their fears though I was a little nervous that they were starting to change their minds. My message must have worked because the next one I got back seemed a bit brighter and not so littered with worries. I was careful not to let myself get too excited throughout the whole process; I was deathly afraid that it wouldn’t work out. I waited while they went over my application and reviewed my references. It felt like an eternity but in all actuality it was only a view days. I was elated to hear back from them that the application looked good and that the lease agreement would be in the mail. I was so close to my dream come true. The last step was to sign the agreement and mail it back. I did that with joy in my heart and a smile on my face. The deal was complete. It had started July 28^th and finished by August 20^th a small amount of time considering what it meant for me. I WAS GOING TO WASHINGTON!! And no one could take it away but that didn’t stop them from trying to make it as difficult as possible...

 Mailing the agreement.

The Journey

Where there is a will there is a way… especially if you are stubborn and persistent. This is the story of my never ending effort to get to where I wanted to go…

I wanted to get back to Washington and I had numerous ideas on just how I was going to get there. I went with what would be the obvious answer first: School. I needed to get back into school so why not kill two birds with one stone. We had seen a few of the colleges in Washington; enough for me to know which ones were acceptable and which ones were not. I was quick to fill out my applications online, send my transcripts, and mail my essays. Going back to school was a great thing for me… though I wasn’t sure what exactly I would be going for… I guessed that would just have to come later. This was my first plan to get back to Washington; it would have been a great one if out of state tuition wasn’t so high. Tried as I could; I couldn’t find a way around having to get a ton of student loans and reluctantly decided that going to school might have been an obvious answer but it wasn’t the most practical. I wasn’t throwing the towel in yet though. My second plan of action was to save as much money as I could and just go. I knew this plan had some flaws in its design. Such as how would I know where I wanted to live and could I find a job that made enough money to support my staying. This plan didn’t last long. I was able to refine it into a slightly smarter version. I decided I would go to school to get a certificate in medical transcription before leaving. The certificate would help me get a steady good paying job in Washington so that I could move. The program only lasted two years but in my eyes it seemed like that would be a decade! I didn’t like the long wait but I was trying to make a smart decision. This plan may have been more mature but it too would run into some problems. Once again the factors of student loans and having to take on even more debt became a problem. I needed a way to go to school debt free and let’s face it; there was no rich person there to hand me the money to go. I began to consider something I would never had seen as an option before. I began to consider the Navy. They would pay for my school, pay me while I worked and let me travel all at the same time. It sounded like a good deal to me. My ending goal was still the same. I would save all the money that I made in the four years I served in order to go to Washington when I was finished. The longer wait was hard to get over but I couldn’t argue that this was the best option for me. So I went through the process of the health exams and other test so that the Navy could consider what jobs to offer me. I was offered plenty of intelligence jobs but not the one I wanted so, with the advice of a great recruiter, I decided to wait a month or two for more jobs to open up and them come back to sign a contract. But as the time passed I started to think that maybe not getting the job I had wanted had been a sign that I wasn’t on the right path. I have always believed that what is meant to happen will find away. I decided to give myself a little more time to consider such a big commitment. I was growing tired of waiting and my dream seemed so far away but I was determined to get there. My mother had always told me “Que sera, sera; whatever will be, will be.” It was hard to trust time to bring me what I so desperately needed but I realized there was really no other way. So I allowed my frantic hunt to slow down and give myself time to think. Backing off I could handle but I could never completely forget it. I continued to job and apartment search on Craig’s List from time to time. It was late one night and I couldn’t sleep so naturally I was playing on the internet. It had been a while since I had checked the listings on Craig’s List so I pulled the website up. I meant to click on rooms/shared but in my sleepy hast I clicked sublets/temporary. It was one of the best mistakes of my life because there in bold print was my dream come true!!

The Dream

The vacation might have been the final step in my process of shedding the old me and owning the new but it wasn’t the end of my story by any means. In fact it was the start of a new one…

I had managed numerous wants and needs of my own as well as a few short term goals. I was too afraid of any long term goals. I had never had to ask myself what it was that I wanted for my future. I had never been alone enough for that question to matter. But now I was faced with it and it was a scary question to answer. Washington took away the fear I had been feeling towards that question. I didn’t know how or when but I wanted to go back to Washington for more than a week. I wanted to be home again and to continue exploring myself there. It was the start of a beautiful dream; one that I could take pride in; one that was all my own. And so the journey began...

Washington... My hearts desire.

The Vacation

“The Dream” in the making:

The fog that had been clouding my vision was lifting and dealing with the pain was no longer an everyday chore. My life was becoming my own as I was growing into a new person. The new me realized I was living my life based on what other people thought it should be; so I started asking myself what it was that I wanted for me. It started with small things like a pair of shoes or a new dress and eventually branched out to bigger things such as a new car. I was slowly learning to make my life about me. I had never been on a real vacation, at least not one that I could remember, so I set my sights on a west coast get-a-way. I had always wanted to see the west coast as a child and could think of nothing better to give myself as one of the final steps in my healing process. In August of 2009, my grandmother and I boarded our plane Seattle bound. The first flight was short between Pensacola and Atlanta; it only lasted about an hour. We ended up missing our connection in Atlanta due to delays In Pensacola and had to be flown to Baltimore to catch the next flight to Seattle.  We landed in Baltimore around 2 a.m. and had to wait about 5 hours for our next flight. The airport was completely empty with only the noise of the loud speaker playing the security code warning. By the end of our wait we could both recite the warning word for word. It was not a fun five hour wait but the time did pass and eventually we got on our flight to Seattle. The flight was long and the seats were uncomfortable the way flights usually are. Landing in Seattle was a great feeling after a long 24 hours of being in airports. It was great until we realized that though we had made it to Seattle our bags had stayed in Atlanta. No big deal right? It’s not like I wanted to change out of the nasty clothes I had on. We were on a schedule though and it had been delayed enough so we left and the airline had to send the bags to our hotel at their own expense. Relief was not the only thing I felt once we finally got out of the airport and on our way to the Olympic Peninsula; I felt home. Home is a rare feeling for me and even though I love the town I was raised in I am not sure it has ever felt like home. I have always had a hard time feeling like I was where I belonged. But as we were driving through the hills I felt it. Despite the sleep deprivation, I felt like I was right where I was supposed to be, right when I was supposed to be there. The feeling only grew as I fell in love with Lake Crescent, the Pacific Ocean, the mountains and the rainforest. The vacation was able to give me a real life safety zone. I was able to put away any harmful memories and make all new ones. Washington was everything I needed; the last puzzle piece of the new me falling into place. A vision of the freedom I had found and a symbol of the new beginning I deserved…