Well folks, I know it's been a long time since I posted, and, let's be honest here, SO MUCH has happened.
First of all, I no longer reside in the state of Utah. I literally packed up and scooted and cabooted out of there exactly one week ago today. Yes, it was sudden, even for me! I wasn't planning on high-tailing it out of there at all to begin with, but when the spirit prompts you (or more like spells it out for you in caps lock) I think you would be wise to follow that prompting! So I did! I remember exactly when it happened and exactly how it happened. I was sitting in my room having my prayers after reading my scriptures, right about the hit the sack, when BAM it hit me like a bag of bricks - I needed to move to California with my family, and I needed to move asap.
My first thoughts? Sheer and utter excitement. Seriously! When I get promptings like that, totally undeniable, and completely clear, almost surprising, I get so excited, because I know that it must be extremely important if the Lord thinks it's important enough to tell me flat out instead of letting me figure it out. I knew it was really important that I be here, and everyone knows how much I adore California with all of my heart, so needless to say I was sooo excited.
Even though I was giddy like a schoolgirl about moving, it was also a really sad thing. I had a fantastic job back in Utah that I adored - I seriously could not have asked for a better job, and I think it deserves a post all to itself (which it will get), I had so many great friends, and great friends coming home, I even left my brother back in Utah. What does that song say - sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same? Something like that. In this case it was true. The more I prepared to move, the harder it got.
I told my nanny fam that I was moving to California, and that I was leaving in 2 weeks. I think a few tears leaked out of that conversation. I went home, started packing all my stuff (which, luckily, wasn't too hard, considering most of it was in boxes anyway... I hadn't really unpacked after 6 months of being home... don't judge me), started packing all of the stuff that my mom and sister needed, and patiently waited (or impatiently) until Friday, September 1st, to arrive, then I could let the journey begin! Now, I want to clarify something really fast. I made this trip in the middle of the night, by myself, with no air conditioning. Twice. In one week.
I can see you staring at your screen, dumbstruck as to why in the world I would torture myself so. 9 hours of murderous heat, exhaustion and sleepiness taking over your brain, with nothing but Larabars, Monsters, and Carl's Jr. to keep me company? Well, let me just fill you in. Pick your jaw up, you're drooling.
The first time I made the trip was exactly one week and one day before I made the trip a week ago. So really, I made the first trip exactly two weeks and one day ago. It seems like so much longer than that!
Do you all remember my bimmer? My sweet, little, tank of a car? He's black and his name is Antoine. Yes, that one. Oh how I love him. That car has served me so well for about a year. However, a year ago, I had a boyfriend who changed the battery in my car, because, as everyone knows, I'm not very car savvy, tech savvy, or sports savvy. In this case, I needed to be car savvy, so I did my best impression, but to no avail. Luckily this boyfriend of mine offered to change it for me. Unfortunately, my bimmer outsmarted him, and he ended up frying my alternator. He replaced it and everything, but poor Antoine has never been the same since. In fact, he sat idle all winter because he refused to open, and then he refused to start. Or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, he just sat there. He started up again in the spring, but sometimes he would just decide not to start.
Well ya know what, Antoine, I'm not going to put up with your attitude. I thought we were friends, but maybe it's time for me to get a new mode of transportation. Since horses were out of the question, I figured I should buy another car. And this time, I bought a Honda. Sadly, with no air conditioning, but everything else about it is pretty fantastic. It's 6 years newer than dear old Antoine, making it a '96, and drives like a dream. It even has a radio! I just love it. It has no name yet; I need to get to know it first. All in good time.
So the first trip was to bring Antoine down, and the second trip was to bring me, my new car, and all my stuff down. The good news is that both Antoine, my new car, my stuff, and myself made it in one piece! No real problems to speak of. The bad news is that I have had 2 1/2 monsters in the past 2 weeks. Somehow I think it's better that I stayed awake though.
I am still so unsure of what is going to happen now that I'm in California. I had a plan for life in Utah, and I was doing everything I could to make it happen, but there were plenty of bits of that plan that just weren't working out. I really wanted to move into an apartment with my bestie best best, but no matter what we did, everything just fell through and went all crummy! Finally I just decided that I would live at the house I nanny at instead of moving into an apartment, so I prayed about that, and definitely felt like that was the right thing to do, and she stayed for an extra couple weeks with her family in the midwest before she found an apartment in Provo. Things definitely worked out for us differently than we wanted at first, but it worked out the way it was supposed to. Had I moved into an apartment in Provo, and still gotten the answer to move to California, it would have been a whole lot messier trying to move. I'm so grateful for the way the Lord works in my life!
Now that I'm here, I'm on the hunt for a job, but thankfully, that's all falling into place quite nicely. More than anything, I love what is here: the ward is fantastic, I love being with my family, I love being with my best sister friend, I love being with my parents, I love being with my aunt and uncle and her kids (the same kids I nannied a couple summers ago), I love being close to other family members, I love the weather, I love running in this weather, I love everything about it, and I couldn't be happier!! What an adventure awaits me, I can feel it!!
Cheers, readers, cheers <3
