California Dreamin...

After two weeks of many tears, much confusion, too many opinions, two wonderful options, I finally have a direction for the next two years of my life! At the end of July, I'll be making a week long road trip out to southern California where I will pursue my unconventional dream of becoming a coach (with the additional benefit of receiving my MBA and honestly, I wouldn't be going to grad school if it wasn't for coaching). I am so excited!

These past few months I encountered several life altering decisions. Decisions of this scale had never crossed my path before. Yes, college was a big decision, but no matter where I went, it was inevitable heading toward four years of school work, four years of running, and a graduation end. Nothing about a college decision could create a huge change in the path (though I am grateful to choosing Hillsdale for the person it made me). But now, life decisions can drastically change the direction of life. Some may lead to wealth, some to success, some to certain people, some to your dream. So much of the decision making process was determining what I valued most. What did I value more than anything? Those choices truly define our character, the person I am and the person I want to be. That was the core of where my decisions rooted.

This past May, I was confronted with a dilemma in my job. Though I will always be pro-life, I know now it is not my true calling. I will continue to stand for my beliefs, but that is not where my heart lies. I knew the talents I had, though would be useful in the pro-life movement, could also be used somewhere else. I turned down the National Coordinator position for Med SFLA. To me, the prestige of being the national spokes person for this organization was alluring and the work I was doing was difficult to let go, but I knew I needed to be somewhere else. I left my job without anything and with a teetering faith that something else would come along.

My passion for running and coaching has lingered throughout this whole year past year, so every graduate assistantship on the NCAA website received a cover letter and resume from yours truly. One interview came along, but the job passed. Coach Sarah tipped me off for a GA at SLU. I visited and was positive I was going to take it. But while I was in the coaches office at SLU, I received a voicemail from another coach, one in California. The phone interview went surprisingly well, but my lack of confidence in my own abilities pushed the opportunity out of my mind, until two days later, I got a call from the coach at the University of La Verne.

Now, this school has no meaning to anyone in the Midwest. It is incomparable to the reputable Jesuit education offered at SLU, it's DIII rather than DI, and it's a whole hell of a lot farther away. None of my relatives supported an adventure to California (NEVER use Cali, even when typing!!! They will hate you!!!). Basically everyone thought choosing that path would be insane. But I couldn't let it go. I tried to convince myself that SLU was the right path to go, but deep down I knew that it wasn't. This school, this team, was pulling at my heart.

For some strange reason, I attribute it to God, this coaching job at La Verne was the answer to many prayers from the past year. It's something I can't explain now, but hopefully in the next two years I will know why I was was called to Southern California, a good 36 hours away from home. But the team is growing, it's a small private school environment (just like Hillsdale!), I actually might have an opportunity to coach being DIII. it seemed to fit. It seemed to fit me, and that's what I wanted.

Though I am giving up a lot more for this team that I would have at SLU, now that this decision is made, I know it is right. To know why, only time will tell.

But I will miss this... long road trips to Michigan with McDonald's shakes and beer koozies (is that what it is?)