Things are happening fast!

Well, now my entire family knows about my intentions of moving to Hawaii, and none of them really argued with the idea. My brother did, however, advise me that if I was interested in dating Hawaiian men, I had better gain at least 75 pounds. (I think I'll do just fine as I am.)

I think part of the reason my parents are OK with it is because I have tentatively decided that I would, finally, make them happy by working in the healthcare field. (Hawaii has a dreadful shortage of healthcare workers--just like everywhere else in the country.) I had been thinking nursing but my dad suggested pharmacy, which I quickly decided was more in line with my talents (I'm better at chemistry than I am at gentleness). He even volunteered to call in a favor to let me shadow one of his colleagues in the field for a day or a week to get an idea of whether I'd enjoy it.

My original plan had been to stay in Chicago and work until I had enough money to buy a place outright, but it may be possible for me to stay here only long enough to complete my pre-pharmacy requirements (which I am fairly certain I can do in a year), and then apply to the University of Hawaii at Hilo College of Pharmacy.

(Am I going to get in, though? Of course I'm going to get in. If there's one thing in the world I have going for me it's that I've never been rejected by any college I applied to. Cornell thought my admissions essay was too weird so they asked me to write another one, and then I got in. :D I believe this whole thing is not because I'm extraordinarily smart, but rather, because so many people have told me so many times that I'm extraordinarily smart that I can't even conceive of the possibility of a school not accepting me. Confidence is hugely important. I am working to get my brother to adopt a similar mindset, as he wants to go to the University of Illinois but thinks he won't get in because they don't take normal white people anymore.)

I NEVER in a million years would have expected that my listening deeply to my own true desires would bring about a result so in line with what my parents wanted for me in the first place. I had always considered them as adversaries, as people hellbent on preventing me from ever being able to live my life the way I wanted to. There is still a long way to go, and I am not sure how things are going to fall into place...but I know they will. Everything is coming together quickly; it feels like heaven is raining blessings down on me.