There's never any guarantee but good things can come to those who wait.
For Diane Caldwell, growing up in Balbriggan as an ardent Manchester United fan during the 1990s and early noughties pomp of Roy Keane and Denis Irwin, the possibility of playing for the club one day couldn't be anything more than a daydream.
United didn't have a women's team until four years ago. In the meantime, Caldwell's career took an adventurous route from the US to Iceland, Norway, six years in Germany and then back to the US last year with North Carolina Courage, all the while winning a multitude of Republic of Ireland caps.
But snap back to reality and the Man United daydream is no more for the 33-year-old who can now live that dream for real having signed for the club at the end of January.
It's a short-term deal but a long time coming, Caldwell told this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
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"I'd been in contact with United since November and they needed defensive reinforcements. Then [the deal] was done a little bit late in the end but done before deadline day and that was the most important thing," she said.
"It is kind of unimaginable and hard to put into words because as a child, it was just always my dream and you get to certain points in your career where you think maybe it won't happen.
"The women's team wasn't even in existence until the last couple of years and it was something that I thought, okay, it might never happen. But even if they had a team at an amateur-level, I still think I would have tried to come over here at some point just to represent that badge and play.
"So the fact that they then did create a professional team, it was obviously an ambition of mine to try and get over here.
"I had always tried to push a move and been in contact with the previous coaches and management but it's not easy. A lot of variables have to fall into place so I was lucky that everything happened this time around."
And it is surreal given the vivid memories from around 20-odd years ago of a family trip to watch Man United playing from the vantage point of Old Trafford's East Stand.
Caldwell remembers her younger self "vividly turning back to take one last look and thinking to myself as an 11-year-old, 'You'll play there one day'."
Caldwell has jumped straight into the deep end, immediately being included in matchday squads for cup games at Bridgwater and Chelsea, before making her debut in a Women's Super League fixture against league leaders Arsenal, where Ireland captain and team-mate Katie McCabe is a fixture on the left flank.
The home debut at the Leigh Sports Village stadium will follow soon after their short upcoming derby trip to Manchester City.
For her family in Dublin, the United move is a welcome one for them given her previous globe-trotting status, although her stalwart role for Ireland meant that they did get to see her matches live semi-regularly.
A busy and crucial period is coming up this spring for Vera Pauw's side with the resumption of the World Cup qualifying campaign.
At the halfway stage of the group phase, the Irish squad are currently occupying the play-off position in second before they visit Sweden on 12 April. That's the first of a quartet of games between now and early September that will decide the team's fate as they try to hold off the Finland side they famously beat in Helsinki last October.
Lessons will have been absorbed from the way European Championship qualifying ended in 2020 when Ukraine pipped Ireland to second.
"I hope we can take lessons from that campaign and if there are any lessons to be taken, it's going to be our game-management and how to deal with those pressure situations and when we're having to be the dominant team, possess and break down the opposition and turn possession into goals," said Caldwell, who is relishing the competitive battle for starting places in defence alongside Louise Quinn, Niamh Fahey and Savannah McCarthy.
"Really, our progress is going to be measured on if we can qualify."
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