You CAN have your cake and eat it too!

I've always heard from other, more experienced journalists that getting a job is really just a matter of timing. I hated hearing that, because it made things seem as though they were out of my control, something I'm still learning to deal with. But, I'm going to have to give it up for them this time, and say they were totally on the money with that one.

Two weeks ago, I gave my previous employer my two-weeks' notice. I was slated to move into the telecommunications field, working for a large telephone company and earning $3 more. Plus, I was going to say goodbye to the 4 a.m. mornings and the drives to random Colorado mountain towns. All in all, I was pretty ambivalent about the change of jobs itself, but excited about the extra sleep.

And then things changed -- very quickly. During my last week at Lifetouch, the telephone company called and told me they were canceling the training class I was supposed to be a part of. I wasn't completely sure what to think, and I debated between going back to my job as a photographer or starting the new job hunt which was inevitable, given that the photography position was a seasonal gig.

In between that period, I applied for a reporting position I saw listed on JournalismJobs.com at a paper an hour away. I saw the listing one Friday, and by the following Wednesday it was gone. Feeling bummed and thinking I had lost out on that chance, I debated whether or not to send my clips along. Thankfully, my sister offered me a piece of advice I like to give out myself: "Just do it. The only thing you have to lose is a few minutes of time."

Thinking of e-mailing the editor and asking for an informational interview in the future, I opted to stick with my photography job for a few more weeks. And as I sat photographing kindergarteners in Boulder, I got a really important call that I think I'm going to remember for a very long time -- a call from the managing editor of the Fort Collins Coloradoan, a 29,000 circulation paper in the northern Colorado town of Fort Collins. She wanted me to go in for an interview.

Fast forward to yesterday and the interview. Despite being nervous, and feeling a bit overdressed in that newsroom, I was hopeful that things would work out. Ft. Collins is only 60 miles from my house, and a nice college town where most of my high school friends lived during college (although unfortunately only one continues to reside there). It's a place where I could see myself living for a while. It's close enough to home that I can be here every day, if I wanted to, but far enough that I can also establish a life for myself while keeping my parents at bay. After a two-hour interview with two editors and another newbie reporter, I sat in on the morning budget meeting, got to meet the executive publisher, and filled out a paper application. Still, I kept telling myself not to get too excited, and not to get overly hopeful. I know no one and nothing is owed to me, and I have come to realize that wherever I get in life will be from my own digging, my own doing, and that nothing comes without a struggle.

But I guess the timing was right, and the chips are finally starting to fall into place for me. The editor called and offered me the position this morning, meaning that starting next Tuesday, I will be the education reporter for the Fort Collins Coloradoan. In all honesty, and for all I hoped it would happen, I sort-of still can't believe that I'm actually on the road to being a legitimate journalist. I can't believe the path I've undergone over these last 23 years of my life, especially these last eight which have shape me to this point. I would have never imagined knowing so much, growing so much, and having seen so much. For all I hoped and dreamed, I can't actually believe that I'm going to be working in a newsroom, albeit a small one. I can't believe that in this shit economy there's a newspaper willing to give a rookie reporter like myself a chance. And above all, I can't believe that it's a paper right here in Colorado, and better yet, in one of the state's more legitimate, sizable cities.

I'm a very, very, very lucky person. I realized this over the last year, when I was fortunate enough to travel 10 countries throughout Europe and Africa, when I was given the chance to see some of the world's most incredible things and meet amazing people. And I continue to be grateful for the good fortune I possess which has not only allowed me to travel to fantastic places, but which now is allowing me to fulfill my career goals of becoming a journalist.

Whoever said "you can't have your cake and eat it too" was wrong. Very, very wrong. Because I was served my big slice of cake in Europe, and now I'm savoring every bit of it with a journalistic fork.