One Choice: The Virginia Chapter That Started My Career

Twenty years ago, before my husband asked me to marry him, he almost chose orders to Italy. He said that if he were single, that’s where he would’ve moved. But instead, he picked Virginia because of me.

If he had gone to Italy, I might never have become a massage therapist. It was in Virginia that I met the wife of a sailor a fellow Navy wife whose husband served on the same ship as mine, the USS Carl Vinson. She happened to be a massage therapist, and our conversation led me straight to massage school. That one choice, his choice, completely altered the trajectory of my life.

Life is full of “what ifs.” What if we had broken up after he joined the Navy? What if I had moved to San Diego for college? Our paths could have drifted in any direction, and none of this might have existed.

Fast forward to today: we’re back in our hometown, San Francisco. After serving 20 years in the Navy, my husband is fully retired from military service, but not from work. Now he works in Silicon Valley, still ambitious, still driven, still moving forward.

I remember when he was deployed to Iraq for six months in 2008. I felt a sadness I didn’t quite know how to navigate. I moved back home with my parents because I didn't want to be alone in Virginia. Instead of dwelling on the sadness, I made a choice: I would pour my energy into something meaningful. I immersed myself in training, studying under Art Riggs, one of the pioneers in our field. What began as a way to cope with missing him became one of the most defining seasons of my career turning grief and uncertainty into focus, growth, and purpose.

When I returned to Virginia after his deployment, I found stability through Massage Envy, which allowed me to work from state to state without losing my footing. Every step from being stationed in Virginia, to advanced training in San Francisco, was shaped by our military life.

Looking back, it’s clear how deeply the military is embedded in who I am. Being a military wife for 20 years shaped not only my personal world, but the entire foundation of my professional path. From discovering massage school in Virginia, to diving into deep tissue training in San Francisco, to getting cupping certified in Chicago while my husband was stationed there, every twist became a steppingstone toward the career I have today.

Sometimes I look back and think, damn… life really takes you places you never planned. One decision, one person you meet, one conversation and everything shifts.

This Veterans Day 2025, I’m grateful not only for his service, but for every twist and turn that came with it. The distance, the deployments, the uncertainty they all shaped the life we have now. Every sacrifice opened a door. Every challenge became a chapter. And looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.