first move.

I was driving from Texas to Colorado. I had no job, and no home.

Seven years ago today was one of the grandest days of my life.

I'd just begun my wandering, and it was this day upon which much of the rest of my life depended.

There is no way to describe it other than crazy. I had left California with my car, a couple weeks' pay, and whatever fit in a laundry basket in the backseat and a couple of small boxes in the trunk. I drove to El Paso, met a few friends out there, stayed a few days, and then headed north to Colorado to interview with this family I connected with online.

I was a few minutes late. I had to call them and let them know that I hit unexpected traffic in Colorado. I was a teenager, after all, and this was before cell phones all came with GPS, and my directions were printed off of either Google or MapQuest (we actually still liked MQ back then).

An hour after arriving in CO, I had a job, a home, and what I didn't know, was my life was forever changed.

There's something to be said for the change I experienced in myself once I saw that chutzpah--and outright teenage foolishness--that demanded a change in scenery, a better life, and made it happen. People commented on my "big scary move to Kansas". Trust me, moving in my twenties, to go to a college, with resources, and community, and having all my work history, education, and everything I've already done to go back on--not to mention a few thousand dollars, made moving seem so small.

I did it all as a teenager with none of that, Check.

There's also the change I saw from working for the wonderful family who hired me. They had a profound impact on me, and I would not be where I am without them. Let me put it this way: they inspired an acting love for the marginalized people in society, that is without a doubt one of the direct reasons I am pursuing a degree in social work. They helped me answer the questions of how do I use my passion in a realistic way to do good?

So here's to those seven years, and to that day, that has so greatly determined the course of my life.