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!!