1867

Michaela left Boston a week after she had received the answering telegram. It took that long to make all the arrangements, order medical supplies to take with her, sort out from her father's study all the books, journals, instruments, and other apparatus. Packing alone would have taken her forever to complete, if not for the maids and Harrison helping her.

Throughout the busy wee before she left, her mother never spoke to her. Michaela knew the silence as the ploy it was. Her mother had used the tactic many times before whenever she wanted a family member to bow to her wishes. Usually, after so many days of silence, her mother got her way. This time she wasn't going to.

Michaela bid goodbye to Boston and her older sister Rebecca, at the train station. Next to her father, Rebecca was her staunchest supporter. While Rebecca hated to see Michaela travel so far away to fulfill her dreams, she understood that it was something her youngest sister had to do.

Tears fell from Michaela's eyes as she settled in her seat. Leaving Boston was turning out to be a lot harder on her than she expected. As the wheels began to turn and the train began to pull out of the station, Michaela fought the urge to run to the nearest exit and quickly disembark.

Instead she settled back in her seat, clutching her father's medical bag to her chest, and prayed for the strength to not give into her fears and return home. When she wasn't sleeping she was reading or writing in her new journal. Documenting every step of her journey gave her much pleasure, as she had never traveled further West than Pennsylvania where she attended the Women's Medical College.

Writing became more difficult for her when she switched from a train to a stagecoach on the last leg of her trip. Still, she was able to jot down a few thoughts.

"As we bumped across that vast territory, I could feel civilization receding behind me, slipping away with each turn of the wagon wheel.

My father taught me that different customs, languages, or color of skin were not cause for prejudice or hostility, but as i saw Indians for the first time, I could not reason with his wisdom."

Excited shouts from outside the stagecoach, caught her attention and she peered out the window to see that they had entered a small frontier community. Her mind was flooded with impressions. Rustic. .

Was she crazy to have ventured so far from home to this tiny settlement? What had I been thinking? Why did I ever leave Boston?

*Because the folks of this community need you.*

She didn't know where the thought had come from, but Michaela swore she heard her father's voice in her head. It was enough to jar her out of her thoughts, and she was appalled to realize how snobbish they sounded. She hadn't studied medicine to become rich or to win accolades in the medical had become a doctor because she wanted to help people and it didn't matter whether they lived in Boston or Colorado Springs, were rich or poor, or black or white. The citizens of Colorado Springs needed her medical expertise, and that was exactly what she was going to give them.