When I was seventeen...
When I was seventeen, I had a vision of what I wanted to do with my life. The vision was clear, but there wasn't a lot of substance to it, and no definition for how to get there. I was eating dinner in a restaurant in Walla Walla, Washington with my parents. I had just received a rating of "1" on a solo competition for music (I am a flutist), and I was on cloud nine. We ate at a restaurant which I don't think is there anymore, called Jacobi's. Jacobi's was located in an old train depot in downtown Walla Walla, and the walls were brick. The building was old, but very trendy and very busy. In high school, my favorite class was English. I was reading the beat poets, listening to The Doors, imagining my life as a hippie (even though it was the late '80s). I fell in love with this little restaurant, Jacobi's. I pictured that when I grew up, I would own and operate a book store. I would host poetry readings (complete with stand-up bass, snapping finge
