My Wonderful Mistake

by Heather Vint

Every time something unexpected has happened in my life, it's become an adventure.

When I was a child, my family moved from Canada to North Carolina, USA and I was terrified. Somehow I managed to take my parents' advice and looked at our journey as an "adventure." That helped calm me down. A few years later I went to college about twelve hours away from all my relations and to this day remember the last words my mother said: "Have an adventure!"

I bring these memories up because my next adventure was not as adventure-like as had I hoped.

Picture a young woman in Asheville, North Carolina, miles away from her native country and hours away from her sisters, brother and parents.

After graduating from university I found myself questioning everything about the past four years. I felt like everything I had done was wrong: the wrong school, the wrong friends, and the wrong apartment. It was the perfect set-up for another "adventure."

I was living with two wonderful people, but luck had it in for me and I found myself in a lot of debt. What is a girl to do when she is alone in a town with friends who are in just as much trouble as she is, and she's just twelve hours away from her parents who live in Chicago?

It took me ten minutes to decide. I was moving! I had five days to pack and get the hell out of Dodge. Asheville, North Carolina is a wonderful place and I enjoyed my time there, but when you have to decide between eating and paying bills it doesn't seem like the greatest place on earth.

So there I was with my faithful dog Elenore, my packed-to-bursting Ford Ranger, and a double-shot espresso from Starbucks. I was getting ready to drive twelve hours straight with a dog and a hundred and twenty minutes of sleep under my belt. Though it doesn't seem possible, I made it!

I drove through Virginia, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and finally landed on the doorstep of my parents' house, dog and all. [Note to dog owners: don't feed them before going on a trip. They can go a day without food and it avoids the upset stomach. Elenore advised me.]

As I got comfortable at my parents' house, still a little buzzed from the caffeine, I started to feel real fear. What do I do now?

I had stumbled on my path, though it felt more like a fall into quicksand. I was trying not to move, trying not to make matters worse, but it felt like I was well and truly mired deep down in the pit. I ate my parents' food, lived in their house and watched their cable TV. After becoming a bit of a leech I realized my adventure had turned into a very bad after-school special episode of "Don't Let This Happen to You, Kids!" What do I do now?

It was clear that I needed to get a job. Bookselling was in my blood and on my resume so I applied and finally succeeded in getting hired after a long run of bad luck.

My first day, heavy with the feeling that the quicksand was rising over my nose, will haunt me until I die. The bus ride is what I remember. I stood at the bus stop and waited, forcing a smile and trying to get excited about the prospect of making new friends and getting rid of the debt I had acquired.

The bus drove up and stopped. I got on and sulked as we rolled down Lake Shore Drive. As I watched out the window and Chicago came into view, I realized I had made a huge mistake.

I had thought that coming to Chicago was the easy way out. I felt like I was doing less than all my friends. But I had been wrong. There was the big-city Chicago skyline staring me in the face. None of my friends had seen that. They hadn't seen the Sears Tower morning, mid-day or night.

Although it seems to some like a loser's end for a college student to go home, for me it was the beginning of my true adventure and I am still living it today.

Everyday is an adventure for me now.

After spending five months in Chicago I feel I must give the world some adventurer's findings:

• Honking is just another way of saying "excuse me" and the bird another way of mumbling under one's breath.
• Never fear cars; they can smell your hesitation.
• Always thank the bus driver; he'll remember you the next day and smile. (This may make the ride safer for you and everyone else on the bus.)
• Don't get on a bus if the bus driver tries to close the door on you.
• No matter how good you are with money, there is always a cheaper way!
• Don't let the tourists get you down. You were once there yourself.