I want my kids to grow up and move away from home. At least for a little bit. And not just away from the family home they’ve been raised in, but also away from the hometown they know.

I chose to stay at home and commute to the local college for my freshman year, and although I had a bit more freedom with my newfound adulthood, I still lived under my parent’s roof and followed their rules. I got married at the end of my freshman year and after a week-long honeymoon, we packed a U-haul to the brim and left the Florida Panhandle for North Carolina.mo

I was terrified.

For one, I had no idea how to be a wife (but that’s a blog for another day). And two, I had never lived anywhere other than my tiny, one stoplight town. I come from the kind of place where everyone knows everyone’s name, and their grandma’s, and what street you live on. I grew up in a special place full of family and community. I was loved, safe, and secure in my surroundings. I never wanted to leave, but the boy I loved (and still love) did and wanted to follow a job opportunity, so we hit the road.

I want to say I never looked back, but I did.

I cried the first hour of the road trip, completely sad to leave everything familiar and all the people I loved. I was scared to embark on a new adventure. What if we failed? What if we couldn’t pay our bills? How would I make friends? I’d had the same ones for over half my life. I wondered if I even had the capability to create a new community for myself in a place I had literally never been to before. 

I want to say I adjusted well and quickly, but I didn’t. I wallowed in self-pity for a while. I felt overwhelmed by the new, big, city I was in. I had no idea where the grocery store was, I couldn’t recognize a gas station, and I surely had no idea what parts of town were “good” or “bad.” The job opportunity my husband had there only lasted a few months, a summer gig for a college kid, and then we were back home to the familiar people we know and love.

Leaving everything I called home for the first time changed the trajectory of my entire life.

Finish reading this piece at Knoxville Moms.