3rd Anniversary

PART 1
The 25th of August is my 3rd Anniversary of being in Georgia. I'm an Atlantan by way of New Orleans. For those of you who know me you know this story. We all have our own story.
A little over 3 years ago I had a conversation with a friend of mine that I vividly remember. We stood outside of my house in the heat of a New Orleans summer and talked about living in Louisiana. I told her, "I just don't know if it's enough." Michael and I were born and raised in New Orleans- actually in Metairie and Kenner. All of our familes are there. We left for college, but came back. When you are raised in New Orleans you don't leave. If you leave, you come back. Every holiday is spent with every family member possible. A little claustophobic, yes - comforting and charmingly predictable, definitely!
We graduated from college, got jobs, got married and had our first child. We quickly realized that in New Orleans we would always struggle to achieve the life we wanted. Our jobs would not be able to take us to the next level that we strived for. Hence, the conversation by the car. It was becoming difficult to ignore.
A little over a month later Michael came home and said that Coke was restructuring and his position was being eliminated in the local office and moved to Atlanta. Basically, he could find a new job or apply for a position in Atlanta. In an instant it was- are you kidding? Leave all our family, everything we know? We just had the first grandchild, how can we take him away from his grandparents? How could be leave?
We were so torn. Our feelings would flip flop on a daily basis. There were times when we were excited and then times that I could hardly sleep because I was sick to my stomach. Did I jinx myself by talking about this? I asked for this! How could I do something so stupid. I don't want to leave.
Well, you know how you pray and ask for a sign? Ours came in the form of a natural disaster...

PART 2
After of few months of job hunting and not a single prospect Michael proceeded with the interview process at Coke. A huge comfort to us was that other families were going through this same process. A few of our other friends at Coke were facing the same big move. This made it a little less scarry.
On Friday, August 24th Michael got his job offer to move to Atlanta. That night we took William who was 15th months old to his first Saints game. It was a preseason game and our best friends had gotten last minute tickets. We got home and watched the news and saw the hurricane heading straight for us. I called my Dad who was at a family wedding and he blew me off. We had just had a false alarm a few weeks back so he told me he'd call me in the morning. I knew that waiting until the morning was too late.
Let me back up by saying that the year before I swore up and down that it would be the last hurricane season I could handle. I swore that we would move across the lake in hopes of avoiding the mass exodus and fear of flooding. Everytime there was a threat of a storm this year I would call and get a hotel room in Baton Rouge before the storm even got close. This one came so fast that it was too late.
Since neither one of our familes were concerned we were on our own and figured out that we had 2 options- 1) go to Houston and try to stay with my college roommate, but risk taking the same route and the rest of New Orleans or 2) go to Atlanta to stay with my step-sister, check out our possible future hometown and go opposite of the rest of New Orleans.

We chose Atlanta and we're here 3 years later...

TO BE CONTINUED...

What We Say

We've all been told that once you say something you can't take it back. It's a hard lesson to learn, but we've all been there. As a senior in high school I told a friend who had decided to sleep with her boyfriend that it made her a lessor friend-- idiot! In college I once told Michael all the things I wish he would do differently, but at least I drew it on a little heart piece of paper-- nice move! As a kid someone made me fall off a set of bleachers and I broke my wrist, but I lied and told my parents I tripped and fell-- there goes their trust.
Our words and what we say and how we say it is such a delicate balance. When to speak up and when to suck it up and keep it to ourselves is a question we will ask ourselves all our life. I am always amazed by the power of our words-- how fast we can raise someone up and how quickly we can bring someone down.
Recently, I have been a recipient of words someone may wish to take back. I've also been the lucky recipient of words that have warmed my heart. My husband has learned the frustration of waiting too long to say something because he just couldn't come up with the right words and then the time passed and it's too late.

I went to an all girls, Catholic high school. I have been involved in more female drama than I care to remember. I think I've actully blocked some of it out. I recently had someone who I thought was a friend use words towards me that nearly knocked my socks off. I was so proud of myself- I stood my ground and held firm and kept it clean! She has never apologized to me and I often think of how in just a few words she did so much damage.

I am a Realtor and I recently had someone who is a mentor to me take blow to her career. She has always had warm words and much wisdon for me and I have tried my hardest to impart the same kindness to her these past couple of months. How easy it is to use our honest, heartfelt words to lift somone who needs it so much. Why don't we do it more often?

So why do we wait? We don't know what to say, we can't find the right words? I bought a card for someone we knew who was very sick. I pestered my husband to write in the card so I could mail it. He drug his feet because he just couldn't come up with the "right" thing. I don't think there are words that are perfect, but it's just that you thought of them. Why not the simple truth-- I'm thinking of you, I'm praying for you, You touched me in my life, You made a difference? Mental note-- don't hold back next time!

I offended a dear friend and had no idea. She kindly told me recently and while I don't think I would say anything different I feel blessed that we were able to open our lines of communication. I hope that after we spoke we learned that sometimes what someone says and what we hear are 2 totally different things.

As women, we LOVE to talk. I could talk all day and night. The older I get the more I want to listen. I want to ask the questions and then listen. The ones I love the most are the ones I long to learn inside and out. I can listen and learn and appreciate who they are and how they became the ones I love.

MIA

I know I have been quite a slacker lately. Life has been a bit hectic and I hope to share soon. I make tons of mental notes, but when I have time to write it isn't flowing our quite right! I hope to catch up soon! Until then...