The Drive

Our family embarked on a Disney journey last Tuesday, February 2. As we approached the town of DeLand, Florida, I couldn't help but go down memory lane. I will take you there as well....Ryan and I married in 1998. We lived in Charlottle, NC for the first six months of our marriage knowing that we would be relocated. We lived in NC long enough to figure out that we could live away from our families, marriage was not THAT bad and that we could parent a puppy. Six months flew by and we were notified that we would be relocated to Turlock, California. Out of all of the possibilities, we were being sent to a plant that was far, far away from what we had ever known. We went. Three weeks later we returned, one of us had a job, one of us was unemployed and we had only been married six months, this would be our first growing experience together. We stayed in California long enough for me to wreck into a non-English speaking resident, visit the hot spots of northern California and long enough for us to realize as a couple that this move was not for us. Back to NC we went. A month and a half later, Ryan was offered an opportunity in Augusta, Ga. Perfect. We settled in nicely after living our first two months there on an air mattress in a two bedroom townhouse. We lived there long enough to purchase our first home, establish a great group of forever friends, find a church home and have our first child, a son, Colin. So, just to keep you up to speed, NC brought us the dog, GA brought us a son. Two and a half years flew by and on Colin's very first birthday, we left our home in GA to establish residency in a town just outside of Boston, MA. We lived there long enough to enjoy many jaunts to Boston, learn a new way of driving as well as a new vocab, experience the wonders of snow and to have our second child, a son, Pryce. Though living up north was a great experience, we longed to be closer to home. When Pryce was a mere six weeks old, we moved to DeBary, Florida. Ryan was working for a company that didn't hesitate to promote fast and furiously. The company saw his potential and strived to move him up the ladder. Up the ladder we went. Florida was an experience. Many positives - Disney, the beach, six hour drive to SC family. It was there, in Florida, that the seed to adopt from China was first planted. I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. A friend just casually shared with me that she had attended a meeting for prospective adoptive parents for children from China. As we approached Orlando, I couldn't help but think of that conversation. We used to joke that we had a "souvenir" from each state we had lived in....a NC dog, a GA boy and a MA "northern" boy. It was during our drive on Tuesday evening that I realized we also had our souvenir from Florida. Florida was the very beginning of our journey to MK!