this new sorta life

I'll tell ya, moving your family to a new state and creating a whole new life is really something amazing. To move to a place where no one knows you and you have an opportunity to be whom ever you want to be while still being yourself, a better version of yourself, it's incredible. There's something, I don't want to sound dumb and say magical, but something fantastic about being scared out of your mind for the future and having nothing to rely on but faith. It's truly inspiring. An experience everyone should have. Especially for someone like me who was born shy and terrified to start new friendships. Something extraordinary has happened here and I feel like I have lived here for forever. I have met so many new people and I feel like I instantly belong here. Like I was waiting to be here. My kids have found amazing friends and they are really happy. I was just called into the Young Women's program as the Mia Maid/Laurel advisor and I am very excited. The group here is very different then the group I had in Utah. There are only about 12 Young women total, about 6 of them are with me. We had an activity tonight and after about 20 minutes of listening to them talk and laugh and be silly, I knew I was in the right place. These girls are awesome. I just hope I can be the leader that they need! SO MUCH PRESSURE! But again I could feel this connection, that I've felt since I got here,  I felt like I already knew these girls. I kind of have no words for the feeling I have here, just contentment, and a feeling of peace. Even though we have been robbed twice since we've been here (ya, we're not in Utah anymore!!!) I'm just way more cautious of doors being locked and making sure everyone is safe.

We get together with family down here all the time. That is so exciting to me!! I was always the only one who rarely had any family to do Sunday dinner with or spend 4th of July with or say "I've got family stuff going on" I craved those things in Utah!!! And now I have them! Which is why we moved here! I don't think you can really understand what I'm talking about until you live away from all of your family for 8 years! Family is so so so important to me and it was something I really wanted my children to grow up around. Now I have it and am thankful every day! I'm also thankful every day to be away form the snow!!!! I would comment about it every day but my Utah friends get pretty irritated with those comments, so I hold back. But secretly, everyday, I am laughing and evil maniacal laugh because I never have to scrape my windshield with freezing numb fingers ever again! Oh how I adore being away from the snow!!

Getting used to not everyone being Mormon is strange too. I mean, I grew up my whole life in a place where hardly anyone was Mormon, but I grew to just get used to it in Utah. In Utah you just assume that everyone is. Even thought that's not the case, it's just easier to assume. Here there is so much more culture and diversity. Going to Walmart is a completely new adventure. Going to Walmart anywhere is always and adventure, but here it's extra exciting. Yesterday I over heard a phone conversation from a very gangster looking black women. I'm sure she was a nice a person and all and I don't judge.... but her side of the conversation went a little like this "Oh h... no he ain't getting out of prison yet! He thinks he can win over some judge by his good looks? H... naw!! That busta ain't never gettin outta there, he ain't never goin see his kid niether, and that dumb Vanessa skank ain't never touchin my weave again! Ummm hmmmm, I punch that b... in her crooked grill til midnight. Straight up ya'll".......yep, I was secretly pretending to linger in the chip aisle so I could hear what she was saying. Hilarious! And super classy. Lots of interestingly dressed people here. It's very entertaining for a person like me who likes to people watch.

Streets here are a big fat joke. I grew up in a city that had named streets and you basically just have to memorize all of them so you can know where you're going, that was before GPS's. Then I lived in a state that numbers their streets so its super easy to figure out where you're going. Now I live in a place where not only are the streets named, they start, stop, then start somewhere else with the same street name. So you're driving down Sunset Ave, and it all the sudden just changes into Mountain Vista Ave, then you have to take a left Sunset Ave continues around the corner and 3 blocks down.........Yep. For reals. And that happens ALL. THE. TIME!!!! It's literally imposible to go anywhere without a GPS. And even then, that takes you in circles sometimes. The streets are RIDICULOUS! Half the time I'm driving around saying "Where the crap did that street just go?!?" And so giving directions to people is really awesome.... "Turn on Hunt and go down to Bella Vista, turn right and then it changes into Dessert springs, then turn left on Mayflower then you're back on Bella Vista, which is really Roadrunner, Turn right again on Bella Vista, then left on Allison Way which has a dead end so you turn on Gary Rd which turns into Prospector at the end of Sunshine Blvd, which leads back to Hunt Hwy. And then you're there!" ...........Riiiiiiiiight. This is my new life!