Time Flies, Y'all.

On the wall at my work desk I have graphics of the
three states I have lived in. Thus far, anyway.
Oh yeah, and my cat. He has a blog you know—
PawsandConsider.blogspot.com

It's hard for me to wrap my head around it, but this June I will have been a Texan for two whole years!

This realization has me thinking back on my childhood, growing up thinking that where I was would be where I would be for the rest of my life. That is to say, Chicago, and its surrounding area, would always be my home.

That changed a bit when I went to University in Minnesota of all places. The shy homebody of a girl that I was am was suddenly thrust into a new life, 300+ miles away not only from home, but from any familiarity. I did not know the area. I did not know anyone else at the school. I was alone, in a new place.

Looking back, I know this was the best thing that could have happened to me.

I got out of my comfort zone and forced to do new things, meet new people, explore a new area.

After graduation, I moved back home for a couple of months before I decided I wanted to move to that sleepy little Minnesota town. My parents helped me to do just that.

Including my time at school, I spent a total of ten years there. Then I moved again. Not back to the city I grew up in, but again to another state. A state I had only visited once before: Texas.

And now I've been here for two years.

Fifteen years ago I would have laughed if you had told me I'd have lived in three states by the time I was 30.

"Yeah, right! Not me," I would have said.

But here I am, and I couldn't be more glad. I really love Texas, actually, and I think I could stay here for quite a long time, if not forever. I've learned that you never know where life is going to take you, and to just enjoy the ride.

The second beautiful horse shoe I got.

The first beautiful horse shoe I got.

Just in case this "ride" finds me somewhere else down the line, I purchased two wonderful beaded horse shoes from a place called Horse Shoes 4 the Heart. Cathy, the one who hand beads the shoes, is a lovely lady, and part of her proceeds from her store go to different horse rescues month-to-month. How cool! The horse shoes look nice online, but they are stunning in person. Highly recommended; she does an amazing job. Anyway, no matter where I end up in the future, these horse shoes will always take me back to this time I have gotten to spend in Texas. I mean, blinged-out horse shoes... come on!

None of us know for sure what the future holds. When we are young we have one ideal of life, the way we think it should ought to be. The best life that we can imagine. But, when that ideal is thrown upside down, well, that is when we get to really see what is best  for us. How amazing is that? I'm beginning to feel awfully blessed for the things I have experienced in life, and living in three completely different places is certainly one of them.

— E