Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Direction

Wow it has been awhile since I have posted and I don't want to upset my fans (Tiffany) who support me. I thought I would mention what is happening to me and my family in the next few months and also take a stroll down memory lane to give a little look at what the next few months mean to us. The year is 1991 I am graduating from American Fork High School with the intention of never going back to school... EVER! I tell everyone I am going to take a break and go to school when I get off my mission. The year is 1994 I am home from my mission and I still do not have a desire to return to school. Everyone (parents, friends, friends parents) tells me I need to go to school and my mind is too smart to let it go to waste. I am working for an auto parts store making minuscule profits and spending it all on ????? I do not know. Lets fast forward 11 years; it is 2005 I still have not gone to school, I have worked for over ten different company's and still I do not know what I want to be when I grow up. My wife and I decide to move to Oregon to be closer to her mother and I decided it would be good for me to go to school (go figure, I don't know where that came from). The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result; this was me and my life, I thought I had direction, but I was mistaken. Tiff's mom found some information of schools and I called the University of Phoenix and talked to a great councilor who helped me step by step get enrolled. If it wasn't for him and the easiness of enrolling I probably would have backed out. I decided to enter Accounting because it pays well and I love math and have been blessed with the joy of numbers. Fast forward two years; it is now 2007 I graduate with an associates in Accounting, I have a great job with a great product and I am meeting wonderful people; however my life is still missing something. I continue my education and pursue a Bachelor's degree in business and finance things appear to be falling into place and we are offered an apartment managing job making more money. We take the job and move in Jan. 2008. This is where things started to change; for the better? I think so. I heard a saying once that said whether you decide to do something and make a change or not the time is going to pass and where you are at the end of that time period is the difference of if you made that choice. When you look at an education it seems 4 years, wow that is a long time, but deciding not to go to school kept me doing the same non fulfilling jobs, and making barely enough to scrape by even though the 4 years came and came again and again. These last three months have been more eye opening and life directing then any other time period in my life. Three months ago I stepped away from Myomed as the Northwest is not growing as fast as they would like; however I still do the occasional show. This plus the new apartment job, and going to school set the stage for our direction. I couldn't find a job in accounting; at least not one that paid enough to live off of and I realized I really didn't want to be an accountant anyway. I looked at management positions, even auto body (it is an interest, perhaps a later hobby) however nothing seemed right. One day I am with my wife at the Dr's office and she is having an ultrasound and I had an epiphany "this is what I want to do" it felt right I was excited and I realized I finally know what I want to be when I grow up. Now all I have to do is find a school that teaches this. At first I thought I could take a course that lasted 6 months (there again with the hurry up and get it done attitude) but realized it was a two year course. Next was finding a school in Oregon and we couldn't find any; plenty in California and even Utah, but none here. We decided I would finish my bachelors and then move back to Utah and go to school out there. This is where perspiration turned to inspiration and divine intervention took place. 18 years ago I received my patriarchal blessing and was told to pursue my education that I may gain the truths of the earth and be able to find a vocation that would be meaningful to me. This was it I was not meant to sit behind a desk or to work a job I didn't enjoy, but to help people; this was what I wanted to do. All I had to do was go to school and I would have figured it out (put forth the effort) exercise faith by doing the work and then you will be shown (HELLO). Well through a series of small events we found a school in Southern Oregon, the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) and it turns out it is one of the top ten schools in the country for Sonography, wow have we been strategically placed or what. We went to Klamath Falls and walked around the school last weekend and spoke with a counselor. We applied and are awaiting news of whether we got accepted or not. The program is four years; first year is prerequisites, the next two are the course, and the final year is the externship which sends you wherever (your name is pulled out of a hat). I could go to Washington, Alaska, Montana, even the east coast; most of the schools are in Oregon however. Getting into the school shouldn't be hard, but once the prerequisites are done it is tough to get into the course which is why I am taking the prerequisites at OIT (better chances). Because the course is hard to get into you have two choices and I am applying for Diagnostic Medical Sonography, and Nuclear Medicine. I am excited for either and can't wait to start in the Fall. If all goes well we are looking to move the first of June and get to know our town and find a job that can help pay the bills. In four years I will have a degree with experience in my field and the school has 100% job placement within six months which is excellent. The time will pass whether I make this choice or not and I like the end results of where I will be after going to school. This is a big step for us and throws us out of our comfort zone; other than this move the only other time we stepped out of our comfort zone was when we moved to Oregon. This was a great experience for us and by stepping out again, we look forward to many more great experiences and blessings, but that of course is another story.

2 comments:

Tiffany said...

I'm glad you posted this-now I don't have to explain it all! Hahaha! I'm excited that you finally figured out what you want to be when you grow up and that I get to go along for the ride. I love you babe!

Jason Young said...

CONGRATS HEWLETT'S!!! That is so awesome, exciting, scary and everything else!! But we couldn't be happier for you guys. You deserve to find something that makes you happy and rich!! Now go gett'em!!

Mandy