Two paths converged in a wood and I took the one less traveled- I graduated from Oregon City High school in 2006 after several teachers and one very determined counselor exhausted every resource to get me to graduate so I could move on with my life. My dream post high school was to attend Western Culinary Le Cordon Bleu program for culinary arts and graduate and go on to own and operate my own oldies style diner based on a menu of comfort classics made from seasonal ingredients. Well I graduated in June and by the 4th of July I had decided to move out my parents house because it was impossible to hide my growing interest in things less innocent than spending time with my youth group friends. Summer ended and fall came and I was working two jobs and just wishing i was going off to college with all of my friends but had rather resigned myself to the fact that the ability to chase ones dreams was reserved for those to whom life came easily. Those who always did the right thing and didn't "smoke or chew or hang around boys that do" Mid September the family I was living with decided that I should go to school and took me to talk to an admission counselor at WCI. I sat down with a lady who assured me that they would take care of all of the financial aid paperwork and that all I had to do was pay the admissions fee. I finally had hope that maybe my dreams could come true. So I signed on the dotted line and payed the 50 bucks. Everything went as planned and on October 4th 2006 I started school. I was for the first time in a place where everyone else was as crazy about food as me. It was like I'd died and gone to Paris. As far as I knew it was all kosher and all i had to do was eventually pay the 48 grand in loans that I had to take out to pay for it. And then on the beginning of my 3rd week of class the financial aid reps came to class and informed me that I would have to start paying a minimum of 500 dollars a month to stay in school. Well at time I was already working 7 days a week and trying to hold down two jobs and barely making it. So I knew that that it had been too good to be true. So I gave up my dream of going to school completely until this last winter when I lost my job and found out that Clark College in Vancouver had the exact culinary program I was looking for and was so affordable that I would be able to go to school and not have to worry about being completely in debt forever. So this last Monday I started school. I never ever believed that I would be able to go to back. I now believe in the power of hope and that of chasing your dreams and that if you think that you will never see the light at the end of the tunnel that you have to just hold on just a bit longer and the light will be there. Now about the relationship. Sometime after I graduated I became reacquainted with my high school sweetheart and thought that I had found the "one" I gave up my identity and everything I was and that I valued and believed in to be with this person. We moved in together and started planning a extravagant wedding. I had everything a girl could dream of until one day my fiancee looked at me and said"I don't want to marry you" and eventually I found out that he had been cheating on me for at least several months with a girl I had been friends with. I was completely devastated and this further reinforced my belief that dreams dont come true and happy endings were reserved for those to whom life came easy. I very quickly spiraled downward in to a rather miserable merry go round of drinking and meaningless relationships. After several months of this I decided to make a drastic change and moved to Atlanta Georgia to be a part of a urban missions discipleship program. I slowly started to believe again in the concept that my dreams were not just things of childish wishes on stars and fairytale princess movies. but that rather it would just take a little more time, effort and elbow grease to make them come true. So now I am in a relationship with the most amazing person in the world. Somebody who treats me better than I ever thought I could be treated. That doesn't mean its always easy or that we don't ever disagree or even fight about stuff. It just it means its completely worth it. That every time we go to the mall and play skeeball in the arcade and he tries to win me stuffed South Park characters or that I sit through the 49304303 Nascar race that he restores my hope in the ability to dream and the idea that I may just get my princess status happy ending after all. All that said I'd like to close with this thought. Don't ever give up on the power of chasing your dreams. Always believe in happy endings. Because sometimes things don't just happen over night but two roads converged in a wood and we take the one less traveled.
ps. I got T-Rex earrings today.. there fantatsic.
No comments:
Post a Comment