I grew up in a beautiful city on the coast of Southern California, sunshine all of the time 13 miles away from the beach, 45 minutes away from the mountains, 2 hours from San Diego, it was wonderful. I lived in the same house my entire life, never moving other than to a larger room after the addition was done on our house when I was younger. The thing about living in the same home is you’re scared of change. You like the consistency of the same routine, the same neighbors, just everything the same.

My parents are older than most people my age, so they were looking to retire. My dad had been retired for about 5 years by the time my mom decided that she was ready to retire. My mom was a preschool teacher and she really needed to retire because it was starting to take a physical toll on her body from caring children to changing diapers, but couldn’t afford to do so in California. With the cost of living being so high in California, between her and my dad collecting their Social Security, they would barely be able to afford the mortgage on our house, let alone gas, and groceries, and just to enjoy retirement.

I would travel to Florida at least once a year because I have family out there, and I really enjoyed the beauty of the state. So, the day they asked me if I would be up to moving to Florida I said absolutely. My only problem with moving so far is, I had no idea where we would live. I knew I wanted to start my life and live on my own at some point but that was not the original plan. My original plan was to live with my parents, and save a bit more money to be able to afford a first, last, and a security deposit for an apartment and then move out on my own. As we slowly found the city they were looking to move to, I started looking into transferring Ulta’s to one in or near their city. Unfortunately for me, there are only 2 Ulta’s near where they live, and there were no Management position openings for either store. So I had to go with Plan B.

In August 2021, my family flew out to Florida so my mom could see the state, visit my family, and so my parents could look at a few houses in the city they wanted to move to. We stayed in Fort Lauderdale, so we could be close to the family. While we were there, my cousin told me that if I needed a place to stay if I got a job down in Broward County, his door was open. You have no idea how much relief that I felt when I was told that I could stay with him until I found a place of my own.

When I got home from our trip, I applied for a store in Pembroke Pines, FL that seemed to have 4/5 management positions open, so I applied to all 4 positions just so I would get noticed by the GM or DM. Within a week of applying for the job, I got contacted by a Store Manager in the District to set up a teams interview, the Manager said she had the store I applied to and one other store in Kendall with a position open and it would be up to the DM which one I would land at. After that interview, I had another interview with the District Manager over the phone to discuss a little further my experience with the company that I had worked for, for 4 years. Two days later, the DM called me and said that she will be contacting my GM at my store with a final round of questions and afterwards would have an offer for me. She asked me how long I would need to move out there from CA to FL and I told her I would need 5 days to get out there. That was it, that was the day that changed my life for the better.

On August 30, 2021, I packed up my bedroom, said goodbye to my coworkers and friends, packed my essentials in my car, and took off for a 4 day cross country road trip with my mom by my side, going on the adventure of my life. Stay tuned for the post about the 3000 mile trip from Long Beach, CA to Fort Lauderdale, FL.