To better understand this picture, you must know that I’m currently typing this post from my parents’ the southwest-style home: Point A! Also known as El Paso, the “915”, and to our resident cholos, “El Chuco”. I’ve lived here all my life. 

Point B? In a matter of 16 days I will be making the overly-cliched transition from small town, overachieving high school student, to a college freshman set in a much larger metropolis.

Coming from a predominantly Hispanic background, three things were originally expected from me:

• Graduate from my local college
• Live with my family
• Eventually sustain them with the salary provided with my career.

Fortunately, I come from a predominantly Hispanic family that thrives on taking chances. My mother’s ambition was obscured by my grandfather’s stern disapproval of women receiving an education beyond high school.  Half a decade later, she proved him and many others wrong by becoming a successful corporate executive. 

ANYWAYS, she’s the one that’s pushed to to burst my comfort bubble and get out of El Paso. As I get older, I realize that me leaving was always part of her plan. She consistently and subliminally gave me the tools to be able to be independent. 

Right now, I am letting go of one trapeze, and anxiously waiting to grab onto the other. As of today, I’m praying to all the deities that I know that there’s a safety net ready to catch me, in case I don’t reach that other trapeze. 

As I look over the numerous plaques and awards that currently hang in front of my desk, I couldn’t help but wonder: 

It’s all about taking chances… right? I took chances on lots of things during high school… When I set my mind to each of them I accomplished them.

But is college really that much of a game-changer? It’s all about taking chances… right?