Why go on vacation when you can live in one?

By Traci Rork
Miss Informed

(2.26.09)

What do we do now? It's a difficult decision for a 24 year old to make after just graduating from college. Well, not just graduating I guess. I took about a year off after moving from Dallas, Texas and back in with the parents in Topeka, Kan., to ponder my existence.

I pondered and I wandered and interviewed for crappy jobs in fun cities but couldn’t decide where I wanted to land. They call this the boomerang effect ~ apparently I wasn’t the only college graduate who flew the coop then flew home to recoup in the comforts of home while deciding my fate. After nearly a year of aimlessness, I used my expensive brain to make an informed and educated decision. Actually, I just flipped a coin.

My best friend Megan ~ whom I’ve known since the first day of Kindergarten ~ and I had both been to Key West before, albeit briefly. She saw the island for a couple hours while on a cruise, and I had stayed for a night after driving down from Miami on Spring Break. Easy, breezy, Keyzy…..we loved it and felt that it was a quaint town without pretension, and with plenty of warmth both in temperature and temperament. Key West was heads. We both had also been captivated by the bright lights of New York City and voted that this was also an option for the next chapter of our lives.

Since Megan and I would have to sell our cars to make this risky venture possible, we were choosing cities which would not require us to own one. So, heads Key West, tails New York City and to this day I’m forever grateful of that fateful flip. Now it was time to convince the parents that 1.) we were not crazy, and 2.) they hadn’t wasted their money on our schooling. The argument, or rather sales pitch, was made over lunch while we wore pink flamingo earrings to hopefully seal the deal.

“You see, we’re writing the story of our lives … and right now, it’s not exactly a page turner…..” I told the parents.

I explained that it would be like graduate school - we would get a job or two and learn a lot while racking up experience and moving on to bigger and better things.

Both of us being recent journalism graduates, her from the University of Kansas and me from SMU in Dallas, it was a known fact that we were destined to enter the job world at the bottom. So why not start climbing that ladder from the Southernmost City? Why not broaden our horizons on America’s only tropical island?

“Someday our lives are going to flash before our eyes…..we have to make sure it’s worth watching,” I said, shaking my head and the flamingo earrings for emphasis.

We understood that this was a huge gamble moving so far away not knowing anyone, but that was the most enticing and endearing aspect.

So we convinced them that this next chapter we were choosing to write was profound and better than indecision.

Little did we know how many hurricanes would pop up in 2004, making many worry that we had made the wrong choice. The first storm being Charlie, which made an appearance during the week we were in town to get an apartment. The next being Frances and then the massive Ivan which our parents insisted we fly home for. Mind you, this was just 11 embarrassing days after our going away party and departure to Key West on a one way ticket. But we managed to make it back and dive into a very sunny place with a few shady people. Megan’s chapter in Key West lasted nearly a year and she’s moved to Chicago, Springfield, Mo., and has landed in Denver with her fiance.

And while I should be nearing the end of “graduate school” term, almost five years later, I’m no closer than when I arrived on this island to wrapping up my studies.

I can’t say I’m from Kansas without the obvious reaction of “Where’s Toto?’ or the even the more clever and overused “Well you’re not in Kansas anymore?” knee slapper.

I usually laugh politely and say that while Kansas was a wonderful place to grow up, I’ve certainly found my niche and appreciate this island and it’s offerings immensely.

When I quit saying daily “I love my life” I may consider moving away from this Paradise. But like they said the movie I will never be able to escape, “there’s no place like home”.