I was a nanny for a family in Arizona and when they were going to move to Philadelphia they asked if I would come with them. I said yes and took the biggest leap off a cliff a girl from a small town could take.
I was 19 at the time and obviously had no idea what I was getting myself into.
However, it was the best decision I ever made. Reading over my journal entries from that week 10 years ago I can't believe how naive I was and what I cared about and what I hadn't thought of yet. My favorite quote from my journal is "what will I see there? Who will I meet? Will I be happy?"
That was the last time I spent a week with my brother and any time more than a couple of hours with my dear cousin Daniel. Both remain two of my favorite people and I'm so glad we took that road trip together.
My partners on my trip of a lifetime:
My cousin Daniel who I just love. You can tell he's thrilled to be getting a kiss on the cheek from his cousin. He is one of the funniest people I've ever met-and I know a lot of funny people!
My big brother Andy. (Actually Andrew hence my son named Andrew, born on his Uncle Andy's birthday) My brother remains one of my cherished relationships. We have fought like North and South in our lives (in fact he would interject that I actually stabbed him with a paring knife once) and cried together. We've shared many many friends and I love him as much as life. Growing up (and still today) he was always the first person to poke fun at me and the first person to tell everyone to shut their mouths if they poked fun at me. You couldn't ask for a better big brother. I never would.
The three of us drove through rain, did a 360 and almost flipped our car, picked up a hitch hiker who swindled us out of some money, slept in the scariest Motel I've ever been in, visited our friend who was serving a mission in Michigan (who incidentally was a little more than a friend to me and I "Dear Johned" when I met the not-yet-19 love of my life a few months later), went to Chicago and saw all there was to see for three kids trying to travel the country as cheaply as possible, and went to NYC where I fell madly in love with everything I breathed in.
I don't know what I was motivated by when I made the decision to move in July of 1999. I never imagined doing the things I did from that very moment on. Some choices we make I think leave little imprint on our everyday lives. But, when I go back and look at my life this one choice to leave everyone and everything I loved in the whole world behind and go on an adventure for no reason at all was a pivotal moment in my life. All good I have experienced in the last 10 years has come to me because of that choice.
A few other notes from that trip:
We went to Canada which my cousin called "Danada" and to this day every time I think about Canada I chuckle inside thinking of him saying that.
We went to Niagra Falls and it was amazing. We took almost 2 rolls of film worth of pictures and I lost them. My brother still hasn't forgiven me for that.
On our trip we made some audio tapes for my then missionary (and one of my brother's best friends) Eric. They were probably a rockin' record of our trip. But the whole way across the country we called our tape recorder "tape Eric" as if there were a fourth person on our trip.
Here's a picture of me, Andy, and tape Eric waiting in line at the Sears Tower.
Good times....
P.S. Speaking of 10 year anniversaries I have another one coming up in December and if anyone has a connection to getting Army/Navy tickets please send your connection this way....
5 comments:
DAN!! Love this post! Has it really been 10 years? Time flies.
I love this post because I totally remember you looking like that! It also makes me reflect on my last 10 years and I come to the conclusion that I cannot imagine what my/our lives would be if you had not made that decision. You're such an important part of who are family is and the journey that we've taken that it's just not conceivable to me that you could have made another choice! It's fate! And I know you feel the same!
I'm so glad you made that choice, because without it I would not have pesto in my life (and some other really fun times in Philly). Thank-you.
It's a big move leaving the home state. When we'd go back people would ask how we liked "the East" And we'd explain that Missouri is actually in the midwest. Not even past the Mississippi.
Wow! That was a lot of catching up to do. We moved into our house two months ago and you guys are farther than we are at wetting up the house. Congrats! Your kids are the cutest ever! They have the cutest hair and big blue eyes!
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