You Can Take a Girl Out of Iowa....

Fort Worth has been home now for over three months. Amazing how fast time goes. I moved down here on our 12th Anniversary, October 16 2011. I thought for sure I was going to die when I pulled out of my driveway on the long journey to my new home. Thankfully, Brad flew home so he could drive down with me. I don't think I could have done it on my own. Leaving "home" was such a traumatic thing for me to do. I felt as though I was abandoning my family. Being the oldest child in my family, I always felt as the protector. Even of my own mother. I felt like my nieces and nephews wouldn't understand why I was leaving them. The night before I left, my friends and family came over to say goodbye. It was like being at your own funeral. I felt as though I was slipping out of my body with each tear that fell from my eyes. (Mind you, I had never been away from my family before...not longer than two, maybe three weeks. Girl Scout Camping Trips to the UP of Michigan. Vacation with a friends family...Iowa was home. I even was forced to try going away to college at UNI...three hours away, but even that made me miserable...I have never been away from my family...and my friends! My life!)Back to the night before I left... Everyone gave me a card and said I could not read it until I was really homesick...until I needed a piece of home in my hands...I yielded to the temptation of opening them the minute they left but held out until two weeks after I got down here...Home..Fort Worth Texas. Let's just say they have been opened and reopened so many times since. Pieces of Iowa in my hands. It isn't the state that is so wonderful, it is the people. Now, the people in Fort Worth are amazing. Very friendly, helpful, and always carrying an easy smile. Their sentences are sprinkled with "darlin", and "sweetie", "y'all" and the occasional "bless your heart". The economy is booming. The best thing is the sun is out almost every day. Here it is the end of January 2012 and I am typing this sitting on the couch with the sliding glass door open. If this was Iowa, pigs would be flying. The weather is great! Brad and I feel like newlyweds. We go on bike rides or walks every day. We do everything together and have rediscovered the young hearts within us. We have long talks, and laugh a lot. We downsized from a King bed to a Queen...so we have to snuggle...I would almost say it is perfect. We just miss our friends and family. But have enjoyed the new found life that has been set out before us. Everyone said we were crazy to move. But I have always been crazy!!