Throwback Thursday - A Change in Plans

While I was trying to decide what Throwback Thursday photo to post this week, I decided to peruse some of my favorite blogs. I have my system: Kelly Rae Roberts then Jenny Doh then Alisa Burke, they are three of my favorites. Then I usually go to my friends: Brown Bobbin and Just Simply Divine.

My course of action for tonight was immediately changed when I got to my friend Mardy’s blog. As soon as I read her latest post my eyes started to well up with tears. 

Our friendship started in November of 2011; we worked for the same company but not at the same location until she was transferred to my office. Marivic, her given name is twenty years younger than I am, but we became fast friends. Mardy witnessed the craziness of my life two years ago: divorce, lawsuits, financial issues, children coping with the divorce, my return to work full-time in a new field and the learning curve that presents. She had come to the United States 8 years ago from the Philippines. We had such different beginnings, yet shared an amazing connection. We talked about so many different topics of life.

Whereas I had followed my dream of attending the college that I wanted and becoming an Interior Designer, Mardy felt that she did not follow her dream. She took what she felt as the safer route of computer science and it was starting to tug on her heart strings. Over the course of the next nine months we talked about what we would both like to do in the future. Whenever Mardy would say she felt old and that time had passed her by. I would remind her that I was 20 years her senior and if I could start over at 50 and re-create my life she surely could do it at 30.

Last summer she decided that she wanted to go to culinary school. She was accepted the Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena. Starting last August she would work from 8:00 until 4:30, drive over an hour to school, attend classes from 6:00 until 10:00 and then drive over an hour back home, and do it all over the next day. The program consisted of six - 6 week sessions. When she was second guessing her decision I sent her the following quote:

"A year from now you will wish you had started today." - Karen Lamb

After the second module, we identified Mardy’s pattern. The first 2 or 3 days of each module she would want to quit, but by day 5 she would enjoy it and then she was fine. From the beginning of the program she knew that she wanted to go to France for the 3 month externship requirement. Mardy has been in Bonnieux at the two Michelin star resort of Capelongue since May. Spend some time on her blog and enjoy the amazing pictures of her French experience. She has now completed her program and is spending some time vacationing in Italy. She will be in Paris next week for her 32 birthday and return to California to start her new career.

What a year.

What an amazing experience.

I am so proud of my dear friend.