Steppesister
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2013
The ABCs of Starting Over; A 2-Week Journey in Becoming a Kentucky Woman
“If God closes a door AND a window, consider the fact that it might be time to build a whole new house.”- Mandy Hale
“If God closes a door AND a window, consider the fact that it might be time to build a whole new house.”- Mandy Hale
Hello, Friends Old and New! In the quiet morning hours, a still cloudy sky greets me on one of my last days in the state I’ve lived in for more than 22 years (dissected by 10 years in Central Asia). Change is once again calling out to me and telling me it’s time to pick up some broken pieces, choose a new canvas, and paint a new picture. I’ve been given some beautiful colors to work with and while the brushstrokes may be clumsy at first, I am excited to see what the final masterpiece will be.
A little mood music to set the tone... time to get 'yer Hillbilly on!
Let me lay a little background for those of you who might be a bit newer to my story. I’ve been writing Trip Reports since 2008 going by All7OfUs once upon a time. When I moved back from Central Asia, where my family and I lived from 2001-2010, I changed my screenname to Steppesister- if you’re familiar with geography terms, the “steppe” is “a large area of flat unforested grassland in southeastern Europe or Siberia.” This is what Kazakhstan is mostly made up of and I thought it a cute play on words. I’ve been living in Salem, Oregon ever since. Sadly, in 2018 I went through a very difficult divorce. My “kids” range from 19-30; 3 live locally, 1 will be moving with me, and my eldest lives in Maryland stationed at Ft. Meade. I have 3 grandbabies, with one being born as I write this. No, literally, my DIL has been in labor for 5 hours with their baby number 3 on her way any time. Obviously, I will miss my children and grandbaby that live here, but nothing dictates that I can’t return to visit on occasion. The good news is that I will be able to see my oldest son and his growing family a lot more often and my younger son will also spread his wings and begin to make a home of his own.
A quick introduction to me: I am an RN who's been working 2 different jobs but both with an emphasis on Recovery Room nursing, or PACU, for the last 6 years. I also have experience in Long-term care, infusion nursing, Pre-op, Med-Surg, and Senior Behavioral Health. I love photography, travel, nature, coffee, fine dining, writing, and spending time with friends. I enjoy home decorating, fresh flowers, and going to Disney as often as I can, but have sights on Italy and Greece, the Canadian Maritimes, and East Africa. Perhaps someday I'll pick up where I left off with learning how to fly. I also love most kinds of music and dancing, quiet evenings and Peter Pan floats. I grew up going to Disneyland, enjoy learning about Disney history, and worked as a CM at the Blue Bayou Restaurant while I went to school at UC Irvine.
Now that you know me a bit more, let's talk about this epic road trip: Bowling Green, Kentucky is the destination- home of the Corvette, Western Kentucky University, caves, bourbon, horses, tobacco and Bluegrass. It’s also only an hour from Nashville; I may just love a little Honkey-tonking now and then. You may be asking yourself why I would pick up the pieces and choose to move to such a far away place with such a completely different culture and climate and leave a good job and the friends I love to start over. The reasons are so many…
My parents, getting older and slowing down, have offered to sell half ownership of their lovely home to me at a very family-friendly price. It’s exactly my style, the right size, and in a perfect location (it borders a public golf course, so the city takes care of all my “yard work” for free!). One of my sisters also lives in Bowling Green and the other and her family lives in McLean, VA. So, living nearer to my family, that I haven’t had the privilege of doing since I left “home” in 1985, will be nothing short of amazing.
I am definitely looking forward to bluer skies and regular summer thunderstorms. The weather in Oregon is depressing and difficult for me to deal with 9 months of the year. I know a lot of people here love the cool misty, rainy days, but I am tired of it. Yes, it’s green; yes, there are mountains and beaches all within a short, 2-hour drive either direction from me. And yes, I will miss the incredibly gorgeous landscapes here. But again, that is what travel is for. To be honest, as beautiful as those places are, I don’t visit them as much as I should, given how much I work.
It is my opinion, take it or leave it as you will, that this state is like an avalanche- going downhill at breakneck speed. Without any commentary, I will simply say that “I cannot ‘Oregon’ anymore”. I just can’t. The crime, taxes, destruction of our once beautiful cities… I can’t do it anymore. I am not alone according to the statistics.
Lastly, there is an unspoken understanding that, in exchange for this family-friendly home purchase price, I will provide companionship and care for my parents as they enter their golden years and need more help. The goal, as with any one of us, is to live independently and to be as self-reliant for as long as possible. Maybe with my being there sooner than later, those years will be extended through providing some advocacy and assistance. My sister has been doing an incredible job with that for years and it’s my turn, and honor, to be there for my parents just as faithfully as they were there for me every single day that I’ve called them Mom and Dad.
So that’s the background. Would you like to travel with me on this grand adventure of moving across the country? Would you like to see some, what I hope to be, fantastic photos of landscapes of our grand and beautiful country? There will be stories of adventures, planning sessions, mishaps, wrong turns, great food (probably some really awful food too) lesser-traveled roads and music along the way. As you might have anticipated this 2-week cross-country journey will end with a trip to Disney to celebrate not only my new Beginning, but WDW's 50th Anniversary with some of my longest-standing DISFriends. In the coming weeks I will be writing about not only the planning of my big, fat move, but also the Disney portion Soon enough, this Pre-Trip portion will “magically” turn into a bona fide Trip Report as I set off on September 7th- 30 days from now. The countdown has begun and the packing is almost done.
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