It was twelve years ago today that I packed up my few things and left my small college town for the big city. Well, not so big but not knowing a soul and everything feeling so unfamiliar it might as well been Manhattan to me. I found a one bedroom apartment and was anxious for my first shot at adulthood. I remember buying a cheap, pastel splashed, straight from the 80's couch and borrowed a friend's old table. My TV was resting on a navy blue milk create and I could barely get one local channel.
It was a lonely fall that fell into a lonely winter. I couldn't go home for Christmas so a friend from work invited me to his family's house for Christmas dinner. Still trying to find my way around town I hardly made it there on time. While eating dinner, the first snow came and what had become familiar was now covered in white. I ended up lost in the next town before I ever made it home. I can remember the loneliness becoming overwhelming at times. Slowly I began to make friends and winter's early nights didn't feel so brutal. One day I distinctly remember deciding to get "rabbit ears" (antenna) for my TV. I went into Radio Shack and was greeted by the cutest guy with the widest smile. His pleasant way had left his image in my head, so whenever driving by he would come to my mind. I had survived winter and with my new antenna, I could at least pick up 2 channels so now I was ready to bring in the mid nineties with a portable CD player for my car (I know it is shocking to know how technologically sad I was before I met Tim). This time on my way to Radio Shack I was wondering if "that guy in my head" would be there. He was. We talked that day not just about CD players but about ourselves. I left there thinking I could really like him. Later, I found out that we had mutual friends and through those friends we became friends.
Well, before that Radio Shack moved on, I would be married to "that guy in my head". So it was official, I was a local. We settled in and bought our first home and after many seasons, started our family.
Since then everything has happened so quickly and with such certainty. Now, 12 years from the day of such uncertainty I find myself surprised with who I have become. I am a wife, and a daughter, a mother, and a friend and it is all very familiar as if this place was never a stranger to me.
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6 comments:
WOW - we're old...
Hey, I remember that apartment and couch!
Wow--you are old.
Thanks Lisa. We know it will get better, but we need the reminder. We struggle in between three communities and can't seem to fully commit to any of them (Rowlett, church (30 min away) and school (30 min away).
Wow, is right! I remember that Christmas, the first you wouldn't be home. I was so worried about you, up there all by yourself and really missed you.
Thank goodness for Radio Shack!
I love you,
Mom
Now THAT's the witty 01cent I know....you could turn that into a blog post you know....
I know that I am old. My body is falling apart, and we are uping Steve's life insurance!
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