My Thank You Note to California

Life changes are a funny thing. Even if you know the change is coming and you can’t wait for it to arrive, it’s always a little scary as the change gets closer. Our cross-country move has been in the works for years. I can’t tell you how many times we have talked about how we can’t wait to leave…but as the time nears for us to depart, I can’t help but have a multitude of bittersweet feelings thinking about leaving the place I called home for 10 years. I moved to Southern California to escape what I deemed at the time the “simpleness” of the Midwest. The military had afforded me the opportunity to see the world, and upon return from a deployment to the Middle East I couldn’t bear the thought of returning home. I craved seeing new places, meeting new people, and just being able to find my way. So I decided to move to California. To be fair, I had a support system in California when I arrived, and my parents and brother were there, so I wasn’t moving to a completely new place alone. Even so, I was in a season of discovery. I loved the weather, the beaches, the style, the cities, all of it. I was so intoxicated by the environment because it was so completely new and was so not the small town I grew up in. As time went on and I started my family, I began to crave the things I was so eager to leave. I couldn’t wait to get back to some simplicity, which now, as a 30-something mother, I realized was actually beautiful and a blessing. I was just not able to ever see that before. As I reflect on the many bittersweet feelings of leaving California, I can’t help but be grateful for everything this place was for me during such an integral season of my life. I owe a huge part of this place to who I am today. I made some beautiful lifelong friendships here, I grew up here, I met my soulmate here and I started my family here. So, even though I have been counting down the days to leave, with eagerness to begin our new life, California will always hold a special place in my heart. So, Thank you, California.