Chapter 2

The Crooked Path has its dividends.

The great thing about growing up is getting to leave the house and make your own decisions, thus, deciding your own future. The crappy thing about growing up is having to leave the house and make your own decisions, thus, deciding your own future. The important thing to remember after this transition and for the rest of your life is to trust your inner compass. It will never let you down, although sometimes it will confound you. Each and every one of us has her own crooked path complete with detours, wrong turns, and dead ends. Even more frustrating, we have our own timetables! I wanted to graduate college at 23, have an awesome career, get married at 24, have my first child at 25 and maybe a second or third by the time I was 30. As it turned out, I was pregnant and married by 21 without any sort of college degree and ended up losing my job. Baby 2 came when I was 23 and baby 3 will be here shortly after I turn 24. If I had been told this was how things would work out back when I was just graduating high school, I would have been horrified. But I have to say, it's pretty perfet the way it's worked out.

I'm sure some of you today are attending the perfect college (or have the perfect degree) and have the perfect husband and the perfect career. Congratulations! - I hate you. For those of you who do not, take heart. Things have a way of working out for the best - often in very surprising ways! My husband lost his job and we were left without any income for several months. Although it was devastating, he found a new job which he truly loves and enjoys every day. This job has medical benefits which the other did not, he is now working indoors instead of the Arizona heat, and he is in a career field which he has always wanted to settle into. The crooked path has its dividends.

Another thing you need besides your inner compass are your fearless shoes. I am wearing mine today (which happen to be in the form of bare feet) because I have a few inner demons that drift by now and again. But self-doubt is not a good reason to say no to any new opportunity. We are all capable of so much more than we think.

Excellence takes hard work and commitment. It's so easy to think it's a snap for everyone else. You automatically assume that everyone else has it together. They may give that impression, but it's simply not true. Everyone has to struggle. Sometimes your biggest battle is to believe in yourself.