Down

No sooner had I arrived in the house than I was greeted by a litany of questions. So, you going back to school? Didn't get enough there? How much is it going to cost? Where will you live? Do you have a job? Have you been applying for jobs? Yeah, what kind? In my family, this is how love is sometimes expressed. Brutally exacting, but out of concern. That's part of why I decided to stay here. I have to move to the biggest city in South Dakota, right by the Iowa border, in order to take the courses needed for medical school admissions. I am, however, staying in the sate, and very close to family on all sides. In this new stage of life, establishing a home is too important to put off. So, I put my foot down and decided to stay here. I am also applying for patient care jobs at different hospitals and nursing homes. The interviews are terribly embarrassing "So, you have a masters's degree and you are applying for this job?" "Where are you from?" "So, you're changing directions.....?(raised eyebrow)" Not to mention that contacting someone for references in Uganda doesn't always work well.
This is the hardest thing I will ever do. Choosing to plant roots somewhere, to humbly take my courses as a nontraditional older student, and to bravely take this one day at a time, are all difficult. If you would have told me at 18 that this is where I'd be 8 years later, I wouldn't have believed you---- then I would have cried. Yes, I battle my doubts every day, and I do look at the social work jobs posted every once in a while. In the end, however, if I take what's coming instead of trying to run away, it will turn out. After all, I have a lot of strong, sometimes rigid, support.