Growing up little kids have different ideas of what they want to be when they grow up? The biggest ones seem to be Nurses and Doctors, Firemen and Ballerina's. I knew when I was younger I wanted to be a teacher, of what I was never quite sure? But at the time of the Idea of teaching and telling people what I wanted them to learn and do sounded nice. As I got older one thing always seemed to stay in my mind. I would tell my mom I wanted to be a Nurse and help sick people feel better again. It wasn't till a few years ago when I thought about joining the Navy and fulfilling my dream of always being a Nurse. Actually when I was about 9 my family and I went to Hawaii for a family vacation. On one of the days there we went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. I remember seeing the big ships in port and thinking how awesome would that be? Traveling almost like on a big cruise ship but with less leisure. Over the next few years I watched movies and commercials on TV based about the Navy. I believe that after I had moved here and met people who were not only in the Navy but different branches of the military that I really thought of it as more of a career. After hearing how much they loved the service and some the perks of joining I really began to see the Navy in my near future. After bringing the idea up to friends, they at first seemed a little resistant. After a while they got used to the idea. About a month ago a close friend and me were talking about plans after high school. She was talking about how her and another friend were going off to college for Interior Design and all the joys of college. We were joking about college life when the conversation kind of died. She stopped and asked if I was still thinking about joining the Navy? I looked down and nodded expecting to hear,"why"? Why wasn't I joining college? When she didn't say anything after awhile, I looked back up, but when I did I saw a look that I cant really explain. It was a mixture of pride and happiness with a little bit of respect. She told me how she was truly proud of me for even thinking of joining and how much respect she had for me. She also said that she always wanted to join but never had the nerve. Hearing all of that meant so much to me and assured me that I was making the right decision about joining. I've actually had a couple of inspirational talks with friends and family with their thoughts about going into the Navy. Another person who talked with me was my Mom. She asked what I was thinking of doing after high school. I told her about the Navy and we talked about how it would be a good experience. We talked about other family members that were in the service. She told me quite a few stories of Grandpa's and Uncle's that had joined and how much they loved and learned from it. At the end of it all she told me that no matter what I decided to do the family would be behind me 100%.