Pictures of places I’ve wanted to go for years are scattered across my bedroom wall. New York, California, The Grand Canyon, Paris, England, Ireland, Greece, Australia….etc. The list goes on and on. Those places were just dreams of mine. A fantasy. Now I have the chance in a life time to make all those dreams come true, and I’m scared to death.

Most of my life has been spent in one place. A small sliver of the world called Janesville, Wisconsin. My home is here. My family is here, and so are most of my friends that I’ve known since childhood.

I looked out my window at the small blue house across the street with the stone path and beautiful garden. The same thing I saw every time I looked out this window. I looked at my suitcase, which looked mostly untouched, then out the window again. I had a decision to make.