The Adventure of a Lifetime

“Josie, I know your scared but I truly believe this will be good for you.”

“I’m honestly not sure. I'm so worried about this drive. What if I hate it out there?” My composure was finally cracking. The entire thought of moving across the country was finally becoming real and I wasn't sure it was a reality I wanted.

My Aunt Sandy was my absolute best friend. I can't remember a time she hasn't supported me. Honestly if it wasn't for her I would never have had the balls to do this. Here I was 22 years old moving across the country by myself.

“Just think of it as an adventure. You never know what will happen along the way. But I know this will be great!”

My aunt was the optimistic one in the family. I'm not sure how she maintained it to be honest. Life had knocked her down hard, repeatedly. Through everything she always remained positive and upbeat. Well unless I did something stupid (which happens often). I wanted nothing more than for her to come with me.

When I first told her about my idea I thought she was going to tell me it was crazy,or that my health wasn’t up to it yet. But to my surprise she was ecstatic about it. She was ready to start packing right then. Her enthusiasm made me excited (it's contagious I tell you!). I needed to slow her roll. I needed to do more planning and I needed to wait for clearance from the doctor. Cops here may have been ok with me driving while in crutches, but cops outside of our town most likely wouldn't be.

During the weeks I was supposed to be on bed rest we got everything organized. We found a job for me. My aunt contacted some friends of my mom, which I wasn't overly happy about but that's a story for another day,  and found me a place to stay. Even my bosses were happy for me, although very sad about having to find a replacement which would be very hard, I set the bar high but I had also turned their business around for them. Everything was falling into place. The ease of everything told me this was the right choice.

People thought my move was because of my ex fiancé. And maybe they were right, I'm still not sure what made me think of this crazy idea. What I do know is I'm still not over him. Jeremy and I had broke up a year ago. No matter how hard I tried I could not move on. Everything in our hometown reminded me of him. No one knew that I still loved him, I hid it well. Not even my aunt knew. Everyone in town had their own ideas on what happened, but no one knew the real story. I just let them think he cheated on me, which was a pretty easy conclusion for everyone to jump to since he had a new girlfriend within a week. I guess this drive would help me figure out how to finally get over him.

I'm not sure why I felt like today snuck up on me. I knew that it was coming. Now that it was here I was panicking. My aunt and I crammed the last of my stuff in my Jeep and I was fighting hard to hold back tears.

“Josie don't you start crying now. You never cry. Just remember home will always be here. We all love you and are so proud.”

“I'm not sure what I'm going to do without you guys though. You, Uncle Gavin, Sean. You keep me sane.” I was really close to breaking down now. “I’m not even getting to say goodbye to everyone.”

“They will understand. If you don't leave now you'll get caught in the storm. So stop stalling and get your butt in the car!”

After saying our I love you’s I got in. I set the radio to the Highway and watched as my home town faded in the rearview. My new adventure was starting, as scary as it was.