At the age of 22, I drove down this road for the first time...... and my life was forever changed. I was living in NC and had just finished my Associate in Arts degree, was waiting tables, and was surrounded by a lot of old, nagging ghosts. I was restless and didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. Some old friends from KY had convinced me to rent a place on Kentucky Lake with them for the summer and I had already lined up another waitressing job there.
One afternoon, while packing my belongings, I took a break and started glancing through one of my parent's magazines. This in itself was odd, because it was a conservative Christian political magazine....something that I had absolutely no interest in at the time. While browsing through the classified adds (something else I NEVER did...) a "Help Wanted" add caught my eye......... and the rest is history.
I never went to Kentucky. Within 2 months, my car was packed with all my earthly belongings... basically clothes, my guitar, a djembe drum, and some various sentimentalities...and I was headed north on Interstate 81 to what would become one of the most challenging, yet earth-moving experiences in my life. A little, lost, NAIVE country girl that grew up with a most idyllic childhood entered into an unknown world of broken promises, broken souls, abuse, and anger..... but also into a place of miracles and healing......a setting that was familiar, but amidst lives and backgrounds that were not.
The road led here........
(sidenote: apparently the link hasn't been consistently working... their webserver host is down. so if you can't get it to work, please do come back and check it out later, and read the "stories". I'll leave the post up for another day.......)
11 comments:
well- i just noticed the link i wanted you to go to is down. it was working when i typed up the post last night. hopefully it will start working soon...their webpage must be down right now.
What a change in direction you took! A lot of forces were at work that day to direct you down that particular road. How long were you there? Looking forward to reading more about this experience of yours. (your parents must have been proud...)
susan- i was there from 1998 to 2005, when we moved for my husband's job. i took a 2 year break when i had my son, and then went back to work there part-time again.
The link doesn't work for me; I get a blank page.
sorry kenju...it's been doing that on and off all day. frustrating! kind of ruins the effect of the post.....
Hey...blank for me too but I will check back...hope you are having a good weekend! Thanks for all your encouraging and funny comments to me! They make me smile!
Still doesn't work; I'll try tomorrow.
Link is not working for me....
I will check back.
Your experience sounds amazing. I love that you have a picture of the road you traveled.
I experienced something somewhat similar, a "taking off" a "risk" of my life--not quite like yours, but in the same vein.
Thank you for sharing.
The link isn't working for me... I'm certainly curious!
About the yarn ball, yes, the goodies were wrapped inside. We did a secret swap with over 30 mamas on the MotherDotCommune forum. It was so much fun! I've been keeping my ball of yarn and treasures on my computer desk, I'm not sure what to knit yet.
You set that up to be very intriguing and the end result was not a let down. I was able to use the link and hope you'll tell even more about your adventures there.
I think it's amazing the roads we take and what they lead to. We seem to have radar for the ones meant for us. We recongize those and they usually line up with a bigger purpose, guided by that which is bigger than us.
I can't wait to hear more of your story... the link is working for me now, and I'm very intrigued. :o)
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