Driving to Texas from Michigan is a long drive. Let's just say I'm glad I lived in Southern Michigan...especially during the summer months. Texas was in the middle of having a drought on our way down. I've never had a car with air conditioning. It's never hot enough for long enough in Michigan to really worry about it. It was 90 degrees in the car when we left, and it was once we got into the southern part of Illinois. The hotel room that we slept in later that night had air, a clean bed and a shower. I felt like I was in heaven. I was also surprised to hear that they had a southern accent in that state. Really? And that's when I realized I'd never been anywhere in my life. Just good ol' Battle Creek, MI.
We seen amazing things on the drive down. We didn't stop to see anything, but on the road we seen the Mississippi River, and I seen a mountain (I think it was a mountain..?) for the first time ever. I am afraid of water, and while I'll swim in small lakes, you may as well know that going over a huge bridge (I can't remember the name of it now, darn!) that covers the San Jacinto Bay, scared the day lights out of me. Every time we went over a bridge that covered a large body of water, I held my breath for a few seconds. I've seen too many movies where the bridges collapse. In the movie Titanic, the ocean swallowed the Titanic like it was a snack. I think my eyes almost fell out of my head when I saw that movie, and I never watched it again. Enough horror for me. Have I gone swimming since I got to Texas six weeks ago? Nope. I don't plan on it, either.
On the way down, what was I thinking? Nothing. I was on auto pilot. I only thought when I needed to, and when a good song came on, I cried. It hadn't even hit me yet what moving to Texas or even leaving home would feel like. I was simply surviving, something I thought I was done doing a long time ago. I'm good at surviving, but I always wanted to move to the next level of my existence.
We finally arrived at my friend's apartment a bit after 11 pm on August 1, 2011. That would be a bit after midnight on August 2, 2011 according to Michigan time, as Michigan is an hour ahead of Texas. It was hard, and I had no idea what I was going to do. My life had been turned upside down. Thankfully, my friend had somewhat of a plan for us while we were here, and mostly kept her opinion to herself. She had one rule: we couldn't talk about my ex-boyfriend. I appreciated it in the beginning, but soon found myself needing to talk to someone about my experience with him.
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