I had gotten a new job with IBM and was transferring away from my cow neighbors (literally) in Vermont to a hopefully more lively lifestyle befitting a single person in their 20s. The only person I knew in Boston was an ex-boyfriend to whom I was not speaking. I knew nothing about the town and had no idea where I was going to live. All I had planned was that on Monday I was packing my car and driving to Boston. On the Saturday before I left I decided to go skiing one more time, by myself, and while on a chairlift, met a guy from Marblehead, a town north of Boston. He introduced me to his parents, who immediately invited me to stay with them and help me find a place to live. I did, and within a day found a great apartment and a roommate I keep in touch with to this day. I don’t remember ever worrying about the move or any of the details. I possessed a calm faith that it would all work out – and by golly, it did.

I met my boyfriend in California in January 2008. After 3 months with him, he had gotten laid off from his job and had a job offer in Oregon. He had asked me to move with him. I was skeptical at first because I’ve been with him for such a short time but I decided to go for it because I was young, had no kids, and I might as well enjoy the adventure. I ended up LOVING Oregon! February 2009, he had gotten laid off again. He had gotten a job offer in Colorado in late September 2009. He had asked me to move again. I did not want to move because I was going back to school and the out-of-state tuition for Colorado colleges where too expensive for me. If I had decided to move then I won’t be able to follow him until December of 2009 when the fall term classes ended for my college. To be honest, I thought there was a very slim chance that I would go to Colorado and our relationship was rocky and I doubted it would survive a long distance relationship. I really wanted to stay in Oregon. He left to leave the morning of October 1st and we said our goodbyes. I went to work that day and I was laid off. There was no way I would be able to find a job to support myself and pay for school while living in the nation’s top 40 financially stressed counties due to the economic situation. The job oppurtunities in my area were sparse so I knew that I would have to move out of there to find employment.

Two weeks later, I had moved out to Colorado to join my boyfriend. I do not know yet if I’m meant to be with him but I do know that I’m meant to be in Colorado at this point in my life. In the two weeks that I’ve been here, I have had two job interviews and two other prospective employers that have been duly interested in me. I have also applied to the local community college and hope to start school again in spring. I do not love it yet as much as I did Oregon so it is too soon for me to tell but I at least know that I can survive here.