There was a space of about half an hour between when I logged in to the SJSU portal and saw the “Accepted” line on the admissions status screen, and when the official email came in, to get my head around it. I’ve had every reason to expect that this was coming for several weeks, and two weekends ago, I told a bunch of my friends that it was near enough to certain that I was organizing my life around starting classes in August.

Dear reader, when I saw the subject line, I gasped and burst into tears.

I was thinking about how different things would be if I had been accepted into the program I applied for six years ago. I didn’t know what I wanted then, really. I would certainly not have been interested in pursuing a more tech-oriented track, or a leadership track. I wasn’t yet committed to moving to a bigger city. I was still married. I didn’t have the social circle I have now. It would have been incredibly difficult to get through our building project, or my divorce, while in school; but having had the degree, and the career mobility that comes with it, the last few years would have a godsend. It’s complicated.

I’ve grown so much in the last six years; I would have grown, differently. I’ve become a strong believer in the idea that every experience is a learning experience, that regret is self-sabotage. That in the end, the road taken is the road you were meant to be on. I’m so excited to see what is down this road.