Everything Happens For A Reason

After a 2,000 mile cross-country car trip in a small car with a dog and my 12-year old brother, I can officially say I've reached my destination: Parker, Colorado. My family has been anticipating the relocation to the colorful state of Colorado since November and my dad moved out here back in March to begin his new job. Separate living conditions were pretty challenging, especially considering my mom was left with the entire house to pack on her own while juggling her role as a mother and a business owner.  My house in New Bern has been rented and the business closed with the building put back on the market.  So far, I can definitely say that the state is gorgeous and the area extremely pleasant. However, I can also say that my heart aches for those I left back in New Bern.  Due to this relocation and alteration to my family's lifestyle, I'm having to sacrifice the ideal senior year of high school that my friends and I have been dreaming of for years.  Even though it hurts to think of an entire year without my favorite people in the entire world, this transition will be a reality check for both myself and those I left behind. This adventure to be had will be one spent closely with my family and filled with new experiences. So far I've planned on getting my first job, attending several concerts with my sisters, making my first solo trip to New Bern at the end of the summer, and indulging in the many wonderful other opportunities this new place will provide me.
We arrived in Parker Sunday, June 17 after 3 12 hours days of driving. We traveled through Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado, stopping in St. Louis for an hour at the St. Louis arch park in beautiful weather, while also driving through an atrocious thunderstorm in Missouri. Kansas is pretty much green fields scattered with piles of cows, oil derricks, wind turbines, and the most vast blue sky I've ever seen. Colorado is flat for the first couple of hundred miles until suddenly a cloud moves and BAM! The beautiful Rocky Mountains, people. I experienced hours of traffic, some flippage of the bird in my general direction, 80 mph speed limits, and long hours with a pestilent 12-year old in the passenger seat trying to navigate the United States using a road atlas for the first time (thank God for the GPS). Despite the frustration, anger, anxiety, and sadness I've felt the past couple of days, I am grateful to say that my last week spent in the place I'll always call home could not have been any better. The people I left behind will always be dearly missed but never forgotten. If there is one important lesson a handful of the most fantastic people have repeatedly pounded into my cranium very recently, it is this: Everything happens for a reason. Even if that reason is not immediately apparent, don't think for one second that all of these detours are useless or detrimental to sufficient life. God is in control and everything will work out for the best, regardless of the way it feels at first. I hope they're right.