Where Hope Lies

My name is Chloe Repaco. I’m your typical 20-something college graduate who is in love and just trying to get her shit together. I’m trying to make my mark in the world, figure out what I want to do in life, and get off my budget-friendly diet of ramen and rice cakes.

Next to my bed sits a calendar with 127 days that have Xs on them, and there are about another 90 days to go. Those Xs are me counting the days until my soldier, Vinse, returns from Iraq. And there he sits at the other end of the world with those same Xs, counting down until our worlds can reunite.

He yearns to be a part of my world again. As far as he’s concerned, it’s a world and a life where everything is okay. Little does he know that my world, our world, and our future is about to be turned upside down the moment he returns home.

This is my story. A story of love, a story of heartache and pain, and a story that molded me into the woman I am today. It serves as a lesson - sometimes what you think you want is not what your heart wants or needs at all.

This is a journey to find myself, my place in the world, and the arms of where my heart, my dreams, and my hopes should lie.