Free Journey by Karina Sharp, Carrie Ann Foster, Good Girl Graphics Page B

be the last ones I play in my brain?  No.
    My only regret is that I didn’t reach out to Jack and keep in contact with him.  I suppose, in a way, I continue to punish myself.  Not to mention that I am so ashamed, I don’t think I could ever tell him everything that happened.  It doesn’t matter at this point, though.  He’s long been an entity of my past.  I pushed him away after that last spring break, where I was half naked in front of thousands of people.  When George informed me that he sent pictures of my actions to Jack, I just knew that he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me.  It’s better to cut people out of your life before they do it to you, right?
     
    It’s been three years since my last spring break in Cabo- the one without Jack.  I’m getting ready to finish med school and preparing for the residency portion of medical school where you begin working in the field and concentrating on your chosen path of medicine.  Even throughout the long daytime hours of lectures, studying, exams, and nighttime hours at the hospital, my thoughts often turn to Jack and our vacations together.  Despite my memories of him, I have my life on track, having long put George Foster and my irresponsible behavior behind me, but not without hitting several major bumps in the road and learning some serious life lessons.
                  I’m moving on, and the farther in the past Jack becomes, the more distant the memories.

Chapter 9
    June, 5 Years Later
     
    Journey
     
    I have never seen such a picturesque place in my life.  This is exactly what my life needs. Most of my friends and family thought I was crazy when I decided to leave my very good and cushioned job as a resident pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital to start a family practice in the small, quaint, seaside town of Kleinert, Maine.  I always pictured myself staying in the big city with my wealthy fiancé, and soon to be husband, attending the best social galas, having the most prestigious clients, and eventually sitting on a hospital board.  
    I had the option to go to college and medical school anyplace, anywhere in the world.  I opted to get my undergrad at the University of Kentucky because of the cheerleading scholarship and the fact that they were national champions, several years running.  My attendance did not break that cycle.  Feeling landlocked in the Midwest, I chose to go to medical school on an entirely new coast- California.  My experience at Berkeley led to my internship in California and residency in Austin, Texas.  
    I had everything in place and my life was set, or so I thought, as did everyone else.  Thus, when I packed up my Porsche my dad bought me as a gift for scoring my job in Austin, and left town with just a few texts and a handwritten note or two to my best friends, everyone thought I had gone mad.  From socialites, to colleagues, to my sorority sisters, all of those around me had an opinion on what it all meant.  So many questioned if I needed to visit the psychiatric hospital, or just needed a trip overseas to get away for a bit.  I was determined, and for once in my life made my own decision, to be responsible and build a life of my own, without things handed to me and without my past coming to haunt me.
    Maine was my ticket to freedom.  I love the northeast, and as a little girl, I dreamed of living on Prince Edward Island, where the show Avonlea took place, but I decided Canada seemed too much like a foreign land.  While conducting some research, I saw an opportunity for family practice in Kleinert, which is a little under an hour and a half north of Boston, I found a quaint cottage near the shore to purchase, and left my old life behind.  
    I am beginning my second month in Kleinert, and I’ve started getting a steady stream of patients.  In a small town, not only is the population of potential patients much smaller, but people tend to not change family practitioners very often.