Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Living in the South ~ How the journey began

I was born and raised in a small rural community in southern Colorado. I lived in the same house for the first 18 years of my life. And the whole time I was growing up, I always figured that I would settle down somewhere in the western US and live the rest of my life in one house. I never imagined that I would move (on an average) at least once every 3 years, after I left my childhood home. Sometimes the move would be across town. Other times the move would be across country. And even though I made some drastic relocations (Arizona to Alaska via Washington State) in my early years, the moves were always in the western US. I never once gave a thought to living in The South. Yet, here I am.

Hubby is from The South. He was born in Texas and spent his childhood in south Louisiana. He always told me that I would love The South because of my love for all things green and the way I loved to grow things. I was skeptical. He finally convinced me we should take a vacation to his old hometown in Louisiana one Spring. I became enchanted not long after we got off the plane. Everything was green (it was still snowy, cold and brown in Colorado), the people were SO FRIENDLY, and the food was delicious!! I was ready to move!

Hubby and I were ready for a change about that time. In the previous 18 months we had seen 6 deaths between our two families. But moving was a major decision. We still had a son in high school and this was going to be a huge upheaval for him. But Louisiana had recently instituted free tuition for Louisiana high school graduates at Louisiana colleges and we felt that this would be a great opportunity for our son.

We put our house up for sale not long after returning home to Colorado. And by the time July came around, we were settled in our new home in Cajun country.

Boy, was I a fish out of water!!!

4 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Looking forward to Part 2! Relocating is a tough thing to do, but it sounds like you guys are experts!

BeFRuiTFuL KReaTioNS said...

Thank you for sharing about your journey with us. We are back in Colorado for a month.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to read part 2. I am a Born and raised Jersey girl who spent 6 years in the South and came running back to Jersey so fast I left tire marks in I95 : )

Heathen said...

I can't wait to read more about your travels!

Hahaha! Dark Mother and I are the opposite. I spent 8 years in the North and came running back to Florida. (Secretly I do miss it sometimes though).