My mom wasn’t too happy when I told her I was going to move to Los Angeles and go to school to become a film make-up artist. After arguing back and forth about it, she finally said that if I moved up there to don’t ever come back. Here I was, almost twenty-one and still living at home and being treated like I was a ten-year old child! I told her that she had to let go of me sometime and let me grow up. She knew how much I wanted to get out of San Diego.

I had a jar that I kept hidden in the back of my closet shelf. I didn’t have a bank account yet so my mom had been cashing my checks for me, and I kept what I didn’t spend in that little jar. I took it down from the shelf and counted the contents. I only had a little over $400 in it. I would have had $800 if I hadn’t loaned that $400 to Darla, which I knew by now that I was never going to get back. Still, I thought it was enough to take my chances on.

I gave my notice at work, and that weekend I had planned on driving up to Los Angeles to look for an apartment. Darla wanted to come with me and I was glad to have her company so I wouldn’t have to go alone.

We left early Saturday morning. It was about a two-hour drive and once we got there, we spent the whole day driving around Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Los Angeles. For the most part, all of the apartments we looked at were anywhere from $800 to over $1,000 a month, and some were even more. I wasn’t expecting them to be that much, and as the day wore on, we finally ended up looking in the less desired sections of town. We finally got a motel room somewhere on Western Avenue to spend the night. “If we don’t find something tomorrow,” I told Darla, “I may just have to forget the whole thing.”

Looking back now, I realize how inexperienced, unprepared, and foolish I was. I really hadn’t done any planning for the move at all and never even considered that I didn’t have a job waiting for me up there, which meant that I had absolutely no means of supporting myself, much less pay rent for an apartment each month. Nevertheless, I had faith that God would help me and I put my full trust in Him. He was all I had now, and I wasn’t going to give up my search for His church or for an apartment.

It was hard going to sleep that night, because of the street traffic, and it seems there were a lot of police sirens going during the night. I was glad to get out of there in the morning.

After looking at the map, I thought maybe things would be less expensive if we were further away from Hollywood and Los Angeles, so we planned on going up north on Interstate 5 towards Burbank. I was driving while Darla gave me directions from the map.

We were just driving along when all of a sudden, it felt as if someone had grabbed a hold of my steering wheel and turned off on an exit that I had no intention of taking! It happened so suddenly and quickly that we almost missed the exit, and Darla and I both shifted in our seats from the sudden jerk of the turn.

“What are you doing?” she yelled out in surprise! I knew she would think I was crazy if I told her that something had grabbed my steering wheel and turned it. I couldn’t believe it myself and was still recovering from the shock of surprise. “I don’t know,” I replied. “Let’s just take a look around here before we go further on.”

We just started randomly driving up and down some of the streets. We ended up somewhere between Grandview Ave. and North Brand Blvd, southeast of Burbank and north of Glendale. The streets were beautiful. There were trees on either side and their tops came together and formed a green archway over the streets. The houses were beautiful too, and I remember thinking, “What in the world are we doing here? I can’t afford anything like this!” We drove around for some time, commenting on the gorgeous homes and streets and finally, I turned south onto Valley View Road and we finally came to a more modest neighborhood where the houses were smaller and the streets were nothing like the gorgeous ones we had just seen.

We ended up on a street called Melrose Ave, and it was there where I spotted a sign out on one of the lawns that read, “One Bedroom Apartment For Rent.” Well, it wouldn’t hurt to check it out. We got out of the car, walked to the porch, and rang the doorbell. A woman answered the door and when I inquired about the apartment, she invited us to come in.

It was an unfurnished apartment and the rent was $150 a month. I would have to pay the first and last month’s rent in advance with a $50 cleaning deposit and $50 security deposit. I couldn’t believe it! It was exactly the amount of money I had left! I told her that I also had two cats and she said that was okay since the apartment was unfurnished. She then took us around back to show it to us.

It was one of four apartments … there were two units downstairs and two upstairs and this one was upstairs. It was a cute little apartment, just big enough for one or two people and the important thing was, it was clean! She said there was an elderly woman who lived next door and it was a pretty quiet place.

It didn’t seem to bother the owner that I didn’t have a job yet. I would have almost two months to find something. I once again had to put my faith and trust in God. We walked back to the owner’s house and I filled out the papers. I had finally found an apartment! Later, as Darla and I headed back to San Diego, I thought about how we came across it. It was like that little place was just waiting there for me!

I thought about how we never even intended to take that exit, but were headed north to Burbank, and how something had seemed to take control of my car and jerked us off on that exit. Then we ended up spotting that sign and the apartment just happened to cost the exact amount of money that I had left in my wallet! Was that coincidence or was it fate?

The following weekend I packed up my clothes and what little belongings I had (mostly books and records), and said goodbye to my family. Of course, my mom was very upset, but I tried to reassure her that I would be okay. I’ve done some stupid things, but I learned from them and she wouldn’t have to worry about me. I was going to get a job and save my money to go to this make-up academy, and everything would be okay.

I told her I had to learn how to do things myself by my own experience, that she couldn’t always do everything for me. Before leaving, she took me to the bank to open up an account, and then showed me how to write out checks and keep track of them in the register.

As I drove along the freeway, I felt a sense of adventure and freedom. “Goodbye San Diego!” I was like a caged bird being set free and it felt wonderful! I couldn’t wait to start looking for work and start my own life by going after my dreams. Thanks to Jack, for encouraging me to do it!

Even though the apartment was advertised as unfurnished, it had a small table with a couple of chairs in the kitchen and a small worn sofa in the living room. There were blinds and sheer curtains on the windows as well. I used a fold up futon that my mom had, and slept on that, Japanese style on the bedroom floor. While working in San Diego, I had bought a few things I would need.  I had a whole set of dishes which included the small plates, saucers, and cups as well as the dinner plates, and I had bought a few pots and pans and utensils to cook with. I figured I could buy anything else I needed as I went along.

I immediately went out and bought a newspaper and looked in the classified section for jobs. I went to a few interviews for an accounts payable position since that was the only work experience I’ve had so far. I ended up getting a job at the headquarters of Union 76, an oil company that owned a string of gas stations out west. I wouldn’t actually start for about another week, however. So now I was all set … I had an apartment and I had a job so that I could now pay my rent. All I had to do was save up enough money to go to the make-up academy!

Since I had another week or so before starting work, I drove to Universal Studios every single day to see the Make-Up Show where they demonstrated on people from the audience, how they made up the actors in films with special effects. I was fascinated and always hung around afterwards to ask questions. I bought one of the make-up books they had on sale, and it was written by a Michael Westmore. I figured he must be another relation to the famous Westmores who were all Hollywood make-up artists. I also bought a small make-up kit so I could practice at home.