{"id":26,"date":"2018-08-08T22:09:58","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T03:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/?p=26"},"modified":"2024-03-28T18:52:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T23:52:44","slug":"welcome-to-my-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/?p=26","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to my Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Have you ever said, “I’m going to pack my bags and move”?\u00a0 Well I did just that! My family and I moved to a new state far far away.\u00a0 Of course it didn’t happen overnight and not for nothing, there were reasons for the move, two of them, my grandchildren.\u00a0 A year ago June, they moved when our landlord said we have 60 days to move, he was giving the house to his son for a graduation present (nice huh).\u00a0 Well my son decided he was done with California and took a new job in Tennessee.\u00a0 It was the saddest day of my life.\u00a0 We had all been living in a duplex (each had our own homes but connected), since my oldest grandchild was born.\u00a0 It was delightful having full access to the kids.\u00a0 I helped when they needed it, like when my oldest grandchild was a newborn, I’d take him every Friday night so my daughter-in-law and son could get at least one good nights rest.\u00a0 Or for them to go out for a date night.\u00a0 It was a win-win situation!<\/p>\n

I was sad at their leaving and wanted to live close to them but didn’t know if I’d like Tennessee.\u00a0 Their leaving made me realize how lonely I felt without the grand kids being around to hug and snuggle, to watch as they grow up.\u00a0 Full disclosure, I had family still in California but my heart was broken and I longed to be by the kids.\u00a0 They bring me great joy and I didn’t want them to have memories of me like I had of my grandma, like three memories to be exact, because she lived in a different state and my parents couldn’t afford to travel, they did all they could to manage the house, vacations weren’t an expense they could easily manage.\u00a0 I didn’t like that we would be miles away and only to be seen occasionally, just wouldn’t work for me.\u00a0 I want them to know me, to know that I cherish them and that they are a blessing.\u00a0 I wanted them to know that I chose to leave behind everything I knew and step out in faith and move to be by them.\u00a0 So I could watch them grow up into the young man and woman they one day will become.<\/p>\n

Problem was my sister and her family would be left in California alone, which was a devastating thought for both of us.\u00a0 My decision to move was going to be pushed out a few years so I could plan, visiting often so I can get to know the area better and work on her to move too.\u00a0 But that isn’t what happened because in December 2017, I had a heart scare which landed me in the ICU for three days and basically sped up my plans to move.\u00a0 I guess when you have a scare like that you realize how precious life is.\u00a0 After the fear subsided I realized I didn’t want to wait a couple of years, heck I may not have a couple left.\u00a0 So I moved my plans up and to my delight my sister and her family decided moving was what they wanted to do too.\u00a0 So that’s what we all did, we moved to Tennessee, May 2018.<\/p>\n

It’s been almost three months in this wonderful new state and I have asked myself, “what did I do?” a couple of times.\u00a0 Don’t get me wrong, I moved here willingly and purposefully,\u00a0 it’s just a big change.\u00a0 Moving to a new state hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be, for any of us.\u00a0 With the culture shock I’m experiencing I think getting used to the new way of life here in Tennessee just might take some time.<\/p>\n

One of the things I’ll have to get used to is the weather.\u00a0 \u00a0Do you know how much it rains here?\u00a0 I’ll tell you, EVERYDAY!\u00a0 Lately,\u00a0 I’ve experienced thunder, lightening and torrential rain that is here one minute then gone the next.\u00a0 Making for some crazy weather that I really don’t want to be caught in (which I have been multiple times).\u00a0 My niece told me that this is the “wet season” who knew?\u00a0 I hail from California where the weather is pretty consistent and seldom do you experience a torrential downpour coming out of nowhere.\u00a0 And let’s not forget the humidity, it’s off the charts.\u00a0 So much so I find fixing my hair useless, because as soon as I walk out the door my hair looks like Sideshow Bob or Doc Brown’s (I know, an old reference but Google it if you don’t know).<\/p>\n

A pleasant surprise living here is how nice people are here.\u00a0 My sister and I were caught in one of the downpours and someone stopped, jumped out of their car and helped us load our groceries in the car.\u00a0 Just because she thought we could use the help.\u00a0 I guess our fish out of water look we both must have had on our face was our giveaway.\u00a0 And that wasn’t the only time we’ve experienced someone going out of their way to help (something I rarely saw in California).\u00a0 You truly cannot have too many manners.<\/p>\n

So I’ve been job hunting for one that will provide work-life balance and lets me pay the bills.\u00a0 I’ve been told the job market is full and robust and should find a job quickly.\u00a0 And after a month of putting my resume out there I have accepted a job.\u00a0 So no more taking it easy, watching game shows and driving my sister around (she is hesitant in getting out there).<\/p>\n

Well enough for now.<\/p>\n

Goodnight my friends…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever said, “I’m going to pack my bags and move”?\u00a0 Well I did just that! My family and I moved to a new state far far away.\u00a0 Of course it didn’t happen overnight and not for nothing, there were reasons for the move, two of them, my grandchildren.\u00a0 A year ago June, they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71,"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeaninevasquez.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}