California Dreaming

From my early teens, I had a yearning, a fascination about visiting America. Being English, American culture is pumped into us from birth through TV, film, music and fashion.
It's easy to get drawn in by it. Now, I know a lot of non-Brits fall in love with England (Anglophiles, I believe they are called) I guess, I would be the equivalent to that but for the country across the pond!
Apologies, this post isn't supposed to be about my wanting to visit another country. It's more about the pursuit of my dream!
To have some kind of income whilst studying at University, I had a part-time job I hated. I used to literally shovel waste (sometimes waste you don't want to know about) into the bin and lift heavy boxes from one place to another. To make it worse, I was outside. I was outside in the cold, in the rain and in the boiling sun. Granted, this was only a part-time job but it was one that I didn't want to do for the rest of my life.
On my lunch breaks, I used to sit in my car where I smelt horrible, had dirty clothes and aching limbs all over. For something to do on my during this time, I used to read random travel brochures that I had picked up for various University projects. Flicking through them, I used to look at photos of American destinations with envy, knowing that it was a million miles from where I was sat. It felt like a different world.
Every day I used to do this. I also cut out the photos of the ones I liked and stuck them on my bedroom wall. I gradually began to realise that visiting America was something I had to do, something I had to work towards and something I had to achieve. Fast forward 10 years.
University - Done, getting up at 4:30am everyday - Done, driving 90 miles into and out of London - Done, working for people I didn't really like - Done.
As I sat on the plane, with the love of my life, making our final approach into LAX, a sudden realisation came over me. I did it. I achieved my dream.
Walking through Newport Beach in Southern California, with the warm sand in our toes, sun on our faces. It made those dreary, cold and disgusting days spent picking up that rubbish so worth it.