How I Got Here

Oklahoma. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would have an address in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. To be quite honest, I never wanted an address in this state; it never crossed my mind as an option. When I was about to graduate college (before Jenna; one week counts) and find a job, I had no ties or attachments so I could go where ever I wanted. All I had in my portfolio was a Texas Tech degree and an over sized grin; the world was a game board and I was the brightest color of all the game pieces. Then, Oklahoma happened. Really?!? How about San Diego, Chicago, New York, or Miami? I've lived nowhere my whole life, its time to venture to the city, right? Apparently not; all of the companies that are located in the "city" don't recruit at Texas Tech. It was looking like I had to throw the city-life dream out the window. No problem; I would settle for Las Vegas, St. Louis, Boston, or Ontario (Canada, I know). Then, I got an interview with a very nice gentleman wearing a name tag so desirable it should have been made of chocolate. Actually, the name tag pretty much was chocolate because it said Hershey's - Jerry Niblett. Are you kidding me? People actually work for a candy company? Was this even an option? Does your last name need to be a good idea for the name of a candy bar? He liked me too; so much that he wanted to offer me a job in Phoenix. Phoenix! I love Phoenix! They have... uh.... oh, the Suns! The Suns are in Phoenix. I was pumped! I went out and bought a Steve Nash jersey because I was so excited. But I decided not to accept the position right away; I told them I needed to think about it. My "think about it" time was spent researching apartments and places to live, places to shop, places to hang out, everything there is to do in the area; all in Phoenix. I was moving to Phoenix. I love Phoenix, I've always dreamed of living in Phoenix! Well, during the time that I was taking to make them sweat over the idea of losing me and wanting to offer me more money, a salesmen in Jerry's territory (Texas panhandle and Oklahoma) quit. Since this over sized grin left such an impact on Jerry, he wanted to hire me for the position. He insisted that I should come work for him. I, being left with a gilt-ridden conscious and a sense that I owed this guy for pushing me threw all of the interviews, accepted the position in Oklahoma City (it was either OKC or Amarillo). I moved up here, Jerry was my boss for less than a month (he got promoted and moved to California), and I was stuck in Wal-Mart. I lasted close to a year in Wal-Mart wearing a Hershey's name tag before I jumped ship. It was either jump or get thrown off soon; they ended up cutting 3,000 jobs across the country over the next two months. So that is How I Got Here. But why did I stay in Oklahoma? The answer to that question is in another blog to come.