Yes, like in Disney’s Aladdin. A song I would play many times on the out of tune piano inherited from my uncle that sat in the dark living room in my parent’s house. I had just come back from taking care of my rich boyfriend’s family’s great camp that sat peacefully on a private lake adorned with beavers and loons in upstate New York. I liked the east coast. But alas, 3 months had passed and our business of cataloging the American Indian artifacts in the attic that were stowed their unethically by his great great grandpa was done. We had no reason to stay and returned to our western mountain town.

My boyfriend tried to start a sustainable clothing line (tried), a venture his parents invested in with what was an obscene amount of money to me at the time. 2 years past and I wasn’t going anywhere. My boyfriend and I didn’t have all that much in common. I was somewhat unwillingly becoming his employee, packing and shipping, and setting up elaborate photo shoots for a product that I really didn’t like. I did like the sustainable intentions of it all. I found a book in the library on eco friendly colleges, and came across a college that served vegan food in the cafeteria and let you pretty much study everything under the sun without committing to a major. And it was on the east coast! And it was near a National Park! Needless to say, the stars finally aligned. With my work history as boyfriend employee number one, and the fact that having a student from Idaho would look good on their diversity brochure, I impressed admissions enough to be admitted! I used my courage to push myself out the door to school at the age of 21.