PARTIAL DISCLOSURE

Early on in my tenure at Loyola University Chicago I knew that Illinois was not going to be a part of my long range plans. Don’t ask me how I new this I just did. As I grew closer to finishing my studies I was faced with this nagging question where did I want to go from here. I found it ironic that I would be asking myself that very question. You see while at Loyola I took a Sociology course “Race and Ethnic Problems. On the first night of class the instructor wrote the following question on the blackboard. “Where do we go from here?’ With every assignment that semester we were required to answer that very question as it related to the assignment for that week. Our final exam consisted of one question. “Given what we thought we knew at the beginning of this semester in relationship to what you actually know at this time and place, where do YOU go from here?”
This was the dilemma that I was now facing. At no point did I think about what I wanted to do, it was all about where I was going to do it. I spent a significant amount of time researching, praying asking questions of and to myself about what to do. Do I stay within the comfort zone of all that I knew and was familiar with or do I step out into the unknown. We all know the answer to that question. So when did I finally decide? Well, it goes something like this. I had finished all of my classes at Loyola and was going to spend a week in Texas of all places. My family had been after me to move down here for some time. In fact only four people to my knowledge know what I am about to reveal. An opportunity to move to Texas was suggested and presented to me back in 1993 after I received my Associate degree from the College of Lake County back in Illinois. I gave it very serious thought, in fact I almost did it but I got cold feet and just couldn’t do it. As I look back I was not supposed to be in Texas at that point in my life.
In any case back to how I ended up here. I had been back and forth constantly as to whether or not to make the move. This was not like moving from one part of town to another part of town. We are talking about moving to a different part of the country. I left Chicago that afternoon early evening heading to TX. I had to change planes in Atlanta. We were late getting in and upon my arrival I had to RUN in order to make my connection. I was the last one on the plane. As we ascended into the sky I happened to look out the window. Normally I always choose an isle seat, for the Atlanta to Dallas Leg only window seats were available. In any case as we rose above the clouds I could see the sun setting way off in the distance. It was at that moment I knew where I was supposed to be. There I was somewhere about thirty thousand feet in the sky listening to this voice tell me that I am supposed to be in Texas. The only question that remained was when. There may be those of you who do not believe in making major life changing, life altering decisions in this manner, know that this decision did not come easy and without sacrifice. Just as I knew when I first set foot on the lakeshore campus of Loyola University Chicago that sunny afternoon and new instinctively that this is where I wanted to further my education. I knew at that moment, at that place somewhere between heaven and earth, Dallas and Atlanta that Texas was and is where my incredible and bright future lays.
Keep reaching for the stars while holding steadfast to Mother Earth.