PREDETERMINED DESTINATIONS ( By A Higher Power)

I've made many changes in my life, some good and some bad, but I'm not gonna bore you with all the gruesome details, so I'm just going to go back a few years, to 2016.

I was living in Ga, and had been between Ga and TN, for about 10 years. I had gotten homesick and wanted to move back to Ohio. I packed up everything, put it in storage, and just kept out enough for a couple months. Me, my fiance', and our two cats. I had about 1k in my pocket, to get us by, and we headed North on Rte23.

Everything went pretty good, but without really having a destination, we quickly learned how stressful things could be, but I had my trust in God, that he'd see us through and guide us on our way. We really had to make a choice on where we wanted to live. It seemed a lot easier in the movies than in real life, people weren't as friendly, and jobs weren't as easy to come by.

We ended up in a town called Newark, and it took almost a year to get our apartment. We both got jobs, and had met some people that took us in, for awhile. We had gone back to TN and Ga to get my stuff out of storage, and put it in one in Heath, Oh.

In May of 2017 we got the paper, and saw the ad for an apartment for rent, we called the lady and got in right away. It wasn't the best, but it was ours. The neighbors were terrible, and tried to torment us every chance they could.

Drugs and homelessness, were very prevalent in this town, but I was fortunate enough to take some classes at the community center, and that helped my disposition a lot. I made a lot of great friends, and had some really neat clients. They were almost like family.

Our years lease was about up and we got the notice that she was going to sell the building, her husband was almost 100, and it was too much, to take care of him and the rentals anymore.

We started looking for somewhere else to live, rumors had it that the new owners, were gonna double the rent, and buy up other properties in the area, to renovate the whole community. We couldn't afford the doubled rent, and the building was so old that probably still had lead paint in it.

I googled places with better livability, and found some small towns west of Dayton. I had always heard that Dayton, was worse than Toledo (where I'm from), so I really didn't want to go there, but thought we could take the chance.

In June, we took a road trip, to scope out the new towns. My job had a franchise in Vandalia, and I had planned on transferring. We went to New Paris, and Lewisburg, and loved what we saw. Families were actually in their yards, playing with their kids, people were walking down the sidewalks, and riding their bikes, this town was alive! It was so amazing, kinda like Happy Days, or Leave It To Beaver type towns. It had a nice welcoming spirit to it, and we really didn't want to go back. We were in love. When we got back to Newark, we got some boxes and started packing right away.

In September, we made our first trip, we loaded the u haul trailer and off we went, got a storage in Lewisburg, and made weekend trips in September and October.

In November, I had my interview, at the new location, and Nov. 15th was my last day at the old job. We moved the rest of our stuff on the weekend of the 16th and 17th, and on the 18th, I started with my new client.

We had planned on staying in the local hotel until we could learn the area better, and figure out where we wanted to live. In Dec, we put an application in at the H.I.T (Home Is the) Foundation, an agency that helps people transition into affordable housing.

The months went by, and finally in May of 2020,they called us. We went to look at it. Not what we wanted, but it was really cute, and we knew we could make it work, for the duration. It was better than the hotel, and cheaper. A one bedroom upstairs apt, an open floor plan and built in pine wood cabinets, with a huge back yard, on a quiet street, we met the neighbors, and they were really nice.

In March of 2020, my dad passed away, not of Covid, he was 7 months shy of 90. In October, we got married on his 90th birthday, to honor him. He knew we were planning to get married, but hadn't set the date, and was pretty excited. It was a small wedding, due to Covid restrictions, but it was fun. My mom and her best friend were there, and I think it was the most fun she had in quite awhile.

We went to Florida for our honeymoon, and it was the tail end of the hurricane, so we couldn't go to the beaches, definitely planning another visit soon. We still had a good time.

November, is also when I decided to take the leap of faith, and pursue my writing career. I think about retiring, and my dream has always been to be a paid writer. I started taking online webinars and free classes on how to get started. I found contests to enter, and I started my own blog site. I may not ever win, but it's a good challenge to get the pen to the paper, and see what happens. Some of the prompts have left me feeling defeated, and less creative, doubting my abilities, while others, are spot on.

It has been almost a year since we got the apartment, but it feels like our forever home, for now. We found a good church to go to, and have met a lot of really nice people. We joined the Y, and I have a great client. I also found a local art gallery that has art shows quarterly and have submitted many art pieces. This was definitely a God thing, giving us a little piece of heaven on earth.

So in conclusion, it was hard for me to just pick one prompt. My whole life I have been very impulsive, and always taking risks, or leaps of faith, even with my husband, another story, so it's hard to just limit it to one, or one month of change. my life changes on a daily basis, change can make us stronger, or it can teach us a lesson on what to do better the next time, I admit, I probably should have listened to God a little more, but I'm happy he got out me out of some of the predicaments I have been in. Never in my life did I think I'd be living in a shelter, or my car. I have a college degree and just wasn't raised that way. I never did drugs, I was a single mom, that raised two great kids, we always had a roof over our heads, and food in our bellies. I had always worked, and went to school. I believe, I was chosen to experience those things, to humble myself, and to know that there is a higher power, in control of things. he reminds you that even when you think you got it good, and living on top, it can all CHANGE in a matter of a minute.

Life altering changes made me who I am today, I have learned resilience and strength, how to overcome fear and uncertainty, and most of all how to love myself better, and those around me. Life is too short to hold grudges, and be hateful.

My mom passed away in January, she was 5 months shy of turning 90, both my parents gone within a ten month span. Material things don't matter, life matters, love hard, and love often. Love everyone, that's the only thing, that can withstand change. Love changes everything.