Trish had goals.\u00a0 She wanted independence.\u00a0 She wanted to make it on her own.\u00a0 She wanted to show her smirking brothers a woman didn’t need a man to succeed.\u00a0 Three older brothers.\u00a0 One a baker.\u00a0 One a butcher.\u00a0 The other an artisan who made decorative candles.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 She’d heard all the jokes about fairy tales.\u00a0 She couldn’t believe how real life had played out either, but truth really was stranger than fiction.\u00a0 She was so tired of saying that.<\/p>\n
William the baker. Brian the butcher.\u00a0 Charlie the candle maker.\u00a0 She steadfastly refused to choose a profession beginning with the letter “t.”\u00a0 Not even if a variation of the title became a “t.”\u00a0 Not even if the job suited her to a “t.”\u00a0 She had to admit she wouldn’t mind that last one — she wasn’t going to choose a profession she hated just to avoid a cliche about it.<\/p>\n
She’d sat down with her high school guidance counselor and talked interests and jobs.\u00a0 She took interest inventories and all kinds of standardized surveys.\u00a0 Should she go to a four year college, a two year college, a trade school, an apprenticeship, or direct into a job?<\/p>\n
With all the survey results and her personal desires taken into account, she decided to enter the military upon high school graduation.\u00a0 She chose the Air Force.\u00a0 They chose her job for her.\u00a0 Aircraft tire changer.\u00a0 Great.\u00a0 She’d never live that down.<\/p>\n
The guys in the break room at work ran a chess club.\u00a0 Trish decided to play and strove to be chess champion.\u00a0 No way that could be construed as beginning with “T.”\u00a0 She studied strategy and moves.\u00a0 At first it didn’t make much sense, then she began to see a bigger picture.<\/p>\n
Trish had one aspect of her game to work on further.\u00a0 Her endgame.\u00a0 She played well, but she had trouble closing out the game.\u00a0 More study.\u00a0 A few months later, she thought she had it.\u00a0 Lunch time chess had taken on new meaning.\u00a0 The whole shop was trying to find a way to beat her.\u00a0 Finally, the base intramural chess championship competition loomed. The tire shop nominated Trish to compete on their behalf. The top three finishers would compete in the command level tournament.\u00a0 Trish took second place.\u00a0 She wasn’t satisfied with that.\u00a0 She studied some more.\u00a0 The top three finishers at command level moved on to Air Force level competition, and after that, to the military championships. She intended to go all the way.\u00a0 As a result, every moment outside of work, she was preparing.\u00a0 She met with her fellow base competitors and argued strategic moves and talked about what to look for.\u00a0 One competitor had been to command competition before and knew a couple of their opponents, so he had something to offer about their games.\u00a0 Trish listened but considered that they could have improved their games since the last competition.\u00a0 Determined to not take anything for granted, Trish joined her team mates to head for command competition.\u00a0 She came home with second place.\u00a0 Time to work to advance to the Air Force level competition.<\/p>\n
After hours of preparation, Team Trish was headed to the Air Force Chess Championships at Andrews AFB and fully intended to win a spot on the Air Force team that would compete for the Interservice Championships.\u00a0 She didn’t want to get ahead of herself, but if she did well there, she wanted a crack at the best players in NATO.\u00a0 But first, she had to come out on top in her own service.\u00a0 More endgame work.\u00a0 More study.<\/p>\n
Finally, competition began.\u00a0 Trish breezed through the first round of competition and easily made it to the semi-finals.\u00a0 Not wanting to get too overconfident, she proceeded with caution.\u00a0 She was almost too cautious and nearly second-guessed herself.\u00a0 Careful, she thought.\u00a0 Then she saw what her opponent was trying to do.\u00a0 She knew how to counter it.\u00a0 Then she saw him make a mistake.\u00a0 Had he really done that?\u00a0 Check-mate!<\/p>\n
The finals!\u00a0 Another new guy.\u00a0 This would be a challenge.\u00a0 Trish took a deep breath, and the competition began.\u00a0 She emerged victorious.\u00a0 The new U. S. Air Force Chess Champion!\u00a0 No “T” job for her!<\/p>\n
Except for being a Trophy Winner.<\/p>\n
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Thank you for visiting for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. Today’s entry is a work of fiction. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it in comments — what you liked or didn’t like. Each day will be a little different, so if you don’t want to miss an entry, please enter your email address below, press sign-up, then check your inbox to click the validation link to get these blog posts in your inbox.<\/p>\n