Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Start of a New Chapter

My sister and I are 7 1/2 years apart. We each had our "only child" moments, and have just recently started getting along and seeing "eye to eye" on things. She is not shy about her struggle with finding a balanced mental health. It seems that mental health issues run in our family and unfortunately, she battles them. I have known for a long time that she needed a change. Not just a little change, but a HUGE change.

Her change has come. She has accepted a job at University of South Carolina (Beaufort). She begins her new job September 7, and while I couldn't be happier for her, part of me is sad. Do you know how far it is from my house to Beaufort, South Carolina? 850+ miles. I am truly happy for her. It also eases my mind to know that she will be in the same city as our Dad and he can help her get acclimated to her new town. Maybe part of my sadness is jealousy.

She has always been a bit of a free spirit, not afraid to move around. Heck, I bought a house 2 miles from where I grew up! Heck, my house is laid out just like my childhood home. Guess I don't do change well. She has lived in California, Indiana, and Michigan. I wish I could be as independent as she is.

I started wondering if Ayron and I could just up and move. He thinks we could, I think it would be a struggle! I would miss too many "silly" things about Auburn.

1.) Pizza King (Tyler and Nat, start drooling now).

2.) DeBrands (Although it is a Ft. Wayne thing, it's still delicious).

3.) Casa Salad (I recently got Nat hooked on it....wait, why are my first 3 things food related?)

4.) Sledding down the big hill at Smith Acres.

5.) Seeing all the classic cars rolling through Auburn around Labor Day.

6.) Seeing Santa's "Chalet" parked by the Auburn Pool during the "off season."

7.) DeKalb County Free Fall Fair

8.) Cricket Burgers

9.) Bread Basket

10.) Running into former teachers who still remember my name

11.) Martha's Popcorn (While it is good the next morning, I'm pretty sure it would get really soggy during shipping.

12.) Hearing the "dueling" church bells on a Sunday morning (I live between the Methodist and Catholic churches).

13.) Screaming at the idiots that can't navigate the "mound" in Angola (yes, I really would miss this).

14.) Silly "Mid-West" festivals (Picklefest, Marshmallow Days, etc).

15.) Snow days (as a teacher, they mean a paid day off! You don't get too many snow days in SC).

Our hometown is "small" in the eyes of most people. Perhaps a bit to conservative for some. I still think I'd miss it if I had the ambition to move away. I wish her the best of luck and hope she gets an apartment big enough for all of us to stay when we come down for vacations!

2 comments:

Natty said...

Aw,I just saw this post! How sweet! And yeah, there are definitely things I'm going to miss... "Home" - meaning, you & Ayron, TJ & mom, being just a couple of hours' drive away. Watching TJ grow up. And wondering if the new kidlet will really ever know who I am. Stuff like that. And also several things on your list. But I'm also excited for this new chapter, cuz, yeah, I really needed it. And it's just been good karma that the location is where it is. I was truly prepared to go most anywhere. I even applied for a job in Morocco!

Carma said...

The "kidlet" will know who you are. Thanks to SKYPE! We need to just set up weekly SKYPE "calls" once you get settled. Mom was asking me all kinds of questions last night and I was like, "Her phone number hasn't changed, call her!" How was I supposed to know how your first day went? She was like, "Oh, I guess you're right."

You moving gives us more motivation to get off our butts and actually go to the coast. If you do some digging and help us plan a car auction out there, it could be a "business" trip.......just saying