The plan is working

That's it. I'm done. No more of this. I'm out.

Let me explain by telling you a short story of how I've been over the past 7 years of my life.

I'm 18. I'm smart. I want to go far away to a really outstanding college when I graduate high school. North Carolina. Boston. UCLA. But I don't. Instead I go to a school that my older sister attends that's 100 miles south of the house my family has lived in for 30 years. (I don't regret that though because I met beautiful and amazing people in Waco. Sic 'Em.)

Flash forward 2 years. I want to study abroad in Europe for a semester. I'm looking at Baylor in Great Britain. Incredible program. I'm going to make weekend jaunts to Paris and Switzerland. I'm going to live in London for 4 months and eat scones and learn the ways of the British. But I don't. Instead I feel as though I can't leave Waco because I'm in love so I get married. I live in a cute duplex and I get a dog (I don't regret that either because I met and married the best... it just happened really really fast...)

So now I'm married at 21 and I want to join the peace corps with the hubby. We want to go to Latin America after college and live in a hut in the jungle for 2 years while helping natives build houses and farm their land. We turn in our applications and get all ready to join. But we don't. Instead we move to Dallas and I get a 9 to 5 (well, 10:30 to 7) job in an office with no windows. Brilliant. I kind of regret that...

And now after all this I'm actually living in the room I had in high school in the house that my family has lived in for 30 years. I feel as though I am going to explode if I do not put space between myself and all of this.

So now it's time. No more of this ridiculous game of thinking big and never doing. I am setting out on my own. I am moving to Tahoe.

Yes. Tahoe.

I quit my job and found out today that I got a job at the Stanford Sierra Conference Center in South Lake Tahoe for the fall. So in 2 1/2 weeks I'm packing up my Hyundai and driving to California. I'm going to live in a cabin next to a lake and go hiking in the mountains everyday. I'm going to meet and work with people from all over the country. I'm going to learn to sail and I might start eating granola. Why the hell not?! I'm going to throw behind me every failed attempt and every regret I've ever had for not grabbing life by the balls and stepping out on my own. I'm tired of all of this and every bone in my body aches with the anticipation of a fresh start in a new place.

And all this will be done approximately 2000 miles from the house my family has lived in for 30 years.

For anyone keeping track, this is chapter 3 of my adult life entitled "What happens when I get my nose pierced and start listening to good music" or "The Highly Anticipated Hiatus from Texas." Stay tuned...