Khalee - wow. What a story!
Admittedly, I sometime find it very challenging to understand people's decisions. I am used to the "graduate HS, graduate college and get a job." approach. As I have aged, i realized that there are many different paths in life and that success is defined differently by every individual.
God bless you for the tremendous effort that you have already put forth. I don;t see your final disposition as a failure, but simply a pause along the way. If anything, you have a wealth of knowledge on how to proceed in obtaining your dream.
unrelated to your specific TR here...your writing skills are phenomenal. It certainly helps to have a dynamic story to tell, but the manner in which you conveyed the story was exceptional. Good luck in all of your future endeavors and please keep us all here on the DIS posted. I can tell you that you have a fan club here!