Moving to Georgia

I got to Georgia on a windy December day in 2014. I was so thrilled to feel the cool breeze as it was a relief from the freezing temps in New Hampshire. We had driven all day long, leaving around 7 am and arriving in North Georgia at my grandmother’s house around 3 am the next morning. Immediately we came inside and went to sleep. My mother had helped me drive down and we both were sick from fatigue over the long trip. We slept in until around noontime and visited for multiple days with my Grandmother and her husband while exploring the area and visiting my aunt and her family as well. We made the rest of the drive to my new town about a week later. The drive through Atlanta was brutally backed up with traffic. It was so great to arrive to a room made up for me in my Grandfather’s mobile home out on 16 acres in the country town in South Georgia. I had my own bathroom and a full size bed and walk in closet. It was very comfortable to settle in to and my mother who was still feeling sick from the travel lay down on an air bed in the spare room right beside mine to nap while I sat up and visited my grandfather and his wife. The next few days were exciting as I interviewed at the hospital in town and got offered the job as well as followed my grandfather around to learn his ways on the farm. I have never been around cows more than I am now in Georgia. He has more than 40 cows currently, and breeds them for the good meat producing bloodlines. He has some of the top Angus in the state, and they are the finest that I have seen so far. Down here Angus are like the top favored cow breed, people depend on them for their livelihood. I always thought they were just stinky destructive creatures with long tongues. To me they still are. After a week in South Georgia with my mother showing me around her old stomping grounds and helping get me set up with insurance, registration, and a job at the hospital in the billing department, It was time to ship my mother home. We made the 4 hour drive to Atlanta airport and got her off to the right terminal. As we were leaving it felt like my heart had died. I was scared, not knowing what to expect. My grandfather was a quiet stern type, much like John Wayne, and I didn’t know what I was getting myself in to living with people who had no idea of my medical history. It was a difficult move, adjusting to the way of life was difficult. You went to bed early and got up with the sun, your plans were made around feeding the cows, and your money went back into the small farm on the dirt road out in the middle of nowhere. What was really cool was how much nicer people were. They all wanted to greet you with a smile and know your name. People spent hours sitting around talking about their family lines and how they were related somehow. Only when you threw around a familiar name were you trustworthy and reliable. It was hard to learn the streets as well, most people followed the landmarks they had known since childhood. Another major difference was the education level. Some people were much more forward about their inability to read and write then others. Some people were quiet about it, but nobody was embarrassed by that fact. High education levels were such a trademark in my hometown, your common sense and ability to eloquently present yourself was a direct trademark to your character. It’s just not the same everywhere I learned very quickly. I went out on dates with a select few I had met online and was not very impressed so I decided to just not date and try to meet some people through church and work. I ended up working in an office building with two foot wide cubicles off the hospital campus, and only had 30 minute lunch breaks. I was working with all women and soon realized I was not able to meet anyone that way. One weekend I was going out to see a movie with my uncle and remembered a message I had received online about a week before that simply stated “I’m sorry that you are too young, your profile is impressive.” I had retorted back “How do you know I am too young, you haven’t even given me a chance. How rude!” The response went unread until a few days before the weekend arrived and I invited him to go to the movies with my uncle and I as ‘JUST FRIENDS’. That was where the next chapter begins.

How am I doing?

        In November of 2014, I made the life changing decision that I was miserable and needed to try something else to cope with my life stress. After a long day of college classes, equestrian team meetings, volunteering at the horse rescue center, and trying to visit some friends while suffering pain and aches, I told my mother I wanted to move to Georgia. It was a dream of mine I had talked about forever. I wanted to move to where it was warmer, with no snow. I wanted to have my own horse to ride daily. I wanted a barn with a loft I could sleep in on warm summer nights when my horse was sick. I wanted to clean water buckets and shovel shavings in my down time. Though it was an overwhelming idea, I wanted to work on a farm and be someone important in a small town in South Georgia where everyone knows everyone. So I did. A year ago if you asked me what I was going through I would say my worst part of everyday was having to attend college while feeling so ill. I had recovered partially from open heart surgery and was not back to myself, and the dawning winter was too much for my thin blood to battle. I was weak and struggling through the ‘greatest years of my life’ in college. I did not like the degree I had chosen. Though I wanted to advocate for kids with illness in hospitals, I did not want to learn about drug abuse counseling and take practice counseling sessions to have to get there. Today if you asked me what the worst part of my day is, it’s that I still have medical setbacks day to day that change and shape themselves into the biggest challenges I have had yet. It’s that I have to work to pay bills so I can enjoy the animals I have at my new home in South Georgia. That is a common struggle with all adults. I would say that I miss my husband when his shift goes back to nights every four months and I have to lay in bed alone at night. Yes you heard me, HUSBAND! My time in South Georgia has been full of change and developments every day that I never expected. I am surrounded by love, support, joy, and encouragement that I don’t think I deserve. I am okay with every aspect of my life, except for my chronic pain, fatigue, and complications that I still believe are caused by my relationship with Lyme Disease.

More than the fact that I am still so sick, there is much more to tell! I will start at the beginning of this series of posts to try and update what followers are left on where I have been this past year and what I have gone through.