Remembering.....

I am not really sure where to begin.  I would like to promise that I will write more, but who knows if time will allow.  I write so that years and years from now, I can look back and be grateful for all of the blessings in my life.

In June of 2014, our house didn't sell.  It was a really tough time for us as a family.  Laura was preparing to leave for Europe, Becca was saying goodbye to friends.  I was missing Tom like crazy and so worried about the sale of our home.  I started working with our Realtors and we quickly realized that they had not put much effort into selling our home.  I asked for the price to be lowered and they wouldn't.  With the help of our relocation company, we fired our Realtors and got a new one.

In late June, I got an interview with an elementary school in Charlotte called Lake Wylie Elementary. The team seemed just like my team at Antelope. God was putting things in order, as I got the job. I was to be a Pirate. I had gotten a job in one of the largest school districts in America. Little did I know what that would mean, but I choose to believe that God placed me there for a reason.

On July 16, the packers finished and early in the morning on July 17, Becca and I drove away from the place in the world I loved the most.  I was tired that morning. Deb Harnly, Ruth, Judy, Carole, Lisa, Sarvani and her family, and Sue all came to say goodbye that day. I looked at their faces and knew that I would miss them way more than I have ever missed anyone. These ladies were my sisters in life. They were the very souls that kept me sane. As I write this, I know that I may never have friends like that again.I wanted to take a beautiful picture of Pikes Peak in my rear view mirror. It was foggy and Pikes Peak couldn't be seen.  I think God knew how hard it would be for me to say goodbye, so he covered her

Becca and I drove all the way to the Colorado/Kansas border, where we stopped for breakfast. Becca wouldn't eat. She slept and listened to her own music most of the day. I listened to an interesting book about pioneer women coming to live in Indian Country. I thought it strange that I was doing the opposite. I was moving back East. I was moving back to where I came from. Why didn't it feel like I was moving back home?  I was excited about a new house, a new way of life, and I desperately wanted our family to be intact again. In reality, I knew that it would never be intact again as Laura stayed behind with Jan.  She wanted to finish her job at the Hyatt Hotel.  I think I needed a huge change for all of us in order to cope with Laura leaving. Becca and I drove about 10 hours that day.  We watched at the plains filled with green grass and wind mills, gave way to green trees. Our part of the world was truly changing.  I remember thinking about how different this new part of the country looked. It was different now that we were actually going to live here. We finally stopped for the night in Missouri. The cats were with us and to our surprise, they had done just fine.

The next day, we headed towards Memphis.  The plan was to see bits of Memphis and make it to Nashville for the night.  We were in Blithesville, Arkansas, when I ran over something in the road and we had a flat tire.  We pulled over to the side and had to unpack all of our belongings onto the side of the road because we had to get to the spare tire.  There we were, half way from home on either side, two cats, and our belongings on the side of the road.  A young couple came by and the young man offered to help us.  I took him up on his offer.  By the time he had put the spare on, Triple A showed up. The job was already done.  I tipped the young man with the $50.00 Olive Garden certificate someone had given us.  It turned out that the young woman was studying to be a Special Education teacher. We had a nice conversation about her career while her boyfriend was changing the tire. I was so thankful for them. Tom called a tire shop in town and they agreed to fix the tire.  It was so finny as we finally got back on the road and Becca said "Mom, I think Mator from the movie Cars, just changed our tire.".  I think she was right.

In Memphis, we drove by our first house.  Becca looked at it and said, "Wow Mom, it was really small.". It was not small to us.  To us, it was where we began thinking about children and where we first became homeowners. It was where Pookie put in a flower bed around the tree.  I don't like Memphis and not for one minute do we regret moving away, but it was sweet to see the old house again. We drove by Elvis' home and by the Lorraine Hotel where MLK was killed.  We then got back on the highway after having dinner in German Town.  We made it to Nashville despite all the problems. We were excited about finishing our trip the next day.

The next morning, Becca and I got up a little later.  We had breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then got back on the highway. The terrain got much less flat and then we were in the Smoky Mountains. It was raining and quite dreary, but beautifully green.  It was awesome to know that such beauty would be close to my new home. We drove all day, and finally made it to our new home at Segundo Lane at about 9pm that night.  We were home. The cats were so very happy to be out of the car. We were a family again. This place didn't have my heart like Colorado, but we were together. We spent the night at Tom's apartment and the next day we began the task of unloading and moving in.

Our Colorado life was over. Our North Carolina life had begun.