Fifty Miles to Madison

       Thirty-six hours ago I was employed by Sbarro. Thirty-five hours ago I got a phone call that has changed my life. Since then I have divided my time packing up my life, squeezing in as many good-byes as possible, and explaining to people what I'm doing, and why uprooting my life for two months is worth it.
      It's a risk. Don't get me wrong. I'm aware that in two months I could return to a musty apartment, no job prospects, and an all encompassing feeling of terror. But for a year I've worked 50, 60, 70 hours a week, doing something I'm not proud to be doing, not able to afford anything but the bare necessities. For the past year, every time I've been asked what I'm doing I make a joke about it, because I know I wasn't fulfilling my potential.
     Yesterday my parents stopped in Bloomington on their way out of town, to say a quick goodbye, get a hug, and process the fact that in 24 hours I was leaving. My mom hugged me, took a small step back, and told me I was sparkling again, and that she hadn't seen me so happy in a long time. I had drinks/lunch with a professor a few hours later, and she said the same thing. I've been trapped for a year. Trapped and useless. Trapped and unhappy. Fixing that alone is worth any risk.
     I'm scared. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't terrified of falling on my face. Talking to my professor yesterday I realized that this will be the first position where my intelligence will be what makes me successful. Don't get me wrong, in my other jobs, intelligence was helpful, but they were designed to be done by anybody. Theoretically you could train anybody to fill them in a matter of weeks. This job feels like a career, feels like something I was built to do. 
  I want to talk about why I support President Obama. Why I'd want to uproot my life for a man I've never met. But I'm finding it hard to find the exact words, and over the next sixty five days I'm sure you'll figure it out. But let me say this. I've spent the past year working more than full time, working harder than most people I know, and I couldn't afford internet. I couldn't afford cable. Every month I wrote the check for my student loan and cried a little bit. I also spent that year applying for jobs. Sending out resumes, writing cover letters, pouring all of myself into a dream. And got nothing. This country is in a state where it can't afford to give me a chance. But he did. The people of his campaign saw my strengths, my desire to make this world better, to empower people to shape their communities, and ran with it.
    Yes. This job is *only* two months long. But this path is something I'm just discovering. After 25 years of wanting to make a difference, I'm getting my chance. This song started playing as I was fifty miles outside of Madison. I'd been feeling weird. Homeless. But right now? All I feel is hope, and a quiet determination that today really was the beginning of my life.
     Some days are more important than others. Some days you look down and see your life, see it expand and become more than you ever imagined. Some days dreams begin. And those days are the days where you surge forward, and those days are the days that you ARE. Seize them and live.