I am the type of person who has always been a home body.  I enjoy being home with my family and we are very close and I never thought of living at any other place than my home.  I was raised on the reservation and grew up there so that was the only thing I knew. So when I was asked to move to the city at another state and more than thousand miles away with my soon to be husband, I didn’t know what to think or say.  I had a lot of emotions going through me.  I was scared, nervous, happy, and excited.  I was scared because I didn’t know what to expect and what would happen. I was excited because I would be taking a road trip there and living in a city. I had 3 months to think about it and out of respect for my parents I had to ask them and let them know what I was thinking about doing.  My parents has always been supportive of my decisions so they told me they wanted me to do whatever made me happy.  I thought long and hard and I decided… WHY NOT?!  I am always open to new things and I thought this would be a great experience for me.

The day came when it was time to pack everything in my tiny car and head out on our road trip to the unknown.  Originally we had planned to leave by noon on that day but of course nothing goes as planned for us.  But that was a good thing because it meant spending just little more time with family.  We spent most of our day just visiting family and giving hugs to family members.  It was hard saying “see you later” to my sisters and parents because they are the ones I spend most of my time with.  They were understanding of me moving away.  Both my sisters want me to be happy so they were ok with it.  The person I found it hardest to say “see you later” to was my baby brother.  He is my baby cousin but I refer to him as my little brother because I’ve been there for him since he was born.  I hugged him as tight as I could and I cried a little.  It was hard but I had to be strong and look forward to whatever the future had in store for me.

We headed out about seven in the evening and the first stop was in two hours.  We stopped and said our “see you later” and gave hugs to my husband’s sister.  Then we left again and headed on the road.  It took us a total of two nights and two days to get to our destination.  We left Friday night from our hometown and arrived to our 2nd home Sunday evening. I have been here once before but everything seemed so different and new.  It was hard to get use to because the only person I knew around town was my husband.  It was lonely at first and I was starting to get homesick the first week.  I missed being with my parents and sisters and I started thinking maybe this wasn’t for me and that I wasn’t ready for this. But my husband encouraged me to start taking classes so that I’m not home alone all day.  So I started school and I started to meet different people.

After being here for nearly three years, it feels like I’ve been here longer but I feel at home now.  Getting use to a different place just takes time, patience, and support.  I was scared before but I’m not scared now.  The day I knew how brave and strong I was, was the day I left home.

M. L. S.