Sweet Home Alabama

(God’s Promise….A Rainbow over our home two days before we moved)

Written May 29, 2018

The last few months, weeks and days have been utterly filled with so much I haven’t even had time to keep up with blogging!

Today marked the last day we will live in Alabama. This transition for me will be bittersweet. My Husband has been traveling these past few months from State to State working and getting everything prepared for our relocation. I’m not going to lie, it has been a lonnng 5 1/2 months for me getting prepared for this major move. From previous experience as a young single mother with one child, I am a witness to how much of a struggle it could be some days. Working a full-time job, driving back and forth across town everyday getting your kids to school, after-school activities, appointments, performances and much, much more. So, with that being said, I SALUTE not only single mothers of 1 but of multiple children. Not only to salute Mothers, but I am Extremely grateful to God for my Husband!! There is nothing like the teamwork of an amazing spouse. Father’s don’t always get the praise they deserve. Often times we don’t realize how smoothly things run when both parents are present. It becomes 2nd nature and you make it work from day-to-day without thinking twice about who has what role and who’s job it is to do what. I did a lot of praying to get through the weeks my Husband was on the road. It was a struggle some days. But by the grace and mercies of God we made it!

What’s a word that describes the word ‘exhausted’ but to the 800th degree?! I’m still in search of that word because that’s exactly how I felt, multiplied by a million (ha-ha). So needless to say, this is the ‘sweet’ part of the bittersweet that I am thrilled about. As a family we no longer will be stretched across multiple states only seeing one another for a few days a month. I get my Hubby back!! He brings me so much joy.

Alabama was our home for the past few years. We made it ours. Despite naysayers, worry-warts and what some may have read in the history books, this place was amazing and inspiring to us all. We got the same question ALL THE TIME… “Why Alabama!?!” We’ve gained many friends that became family and made so many connections that we ourselves could never have imagined making. The experiences here are extremely memorable and will last a lifetime. I can’t imagine having moved to another State and falling in love with it as much as I did in with Alabama. 

Southern Hospitality is real! From day one, it seemed that everyone we met or crossed paths with, were so welcoming, warm and inviting. We were treated like family from the beginning from very caring and loving people. Even strangers! Where is there a place you can go, where you can meet a total stranger, engage in random conversation after saying a quick “hello” and feel that you have known this person or persons all of your life? This seemed to happen to us quite often. Spanning across many cultures and we loved it. Well, we love people and love to laugh and strike up conversation, so this was a State specifically for us!! I would assume we look like a very approachable family 😊Our church family was wonderful and such a blessing to us. It’s so hard to leave knowing you’ve built this bond with people that have supported you from the very beginning and have always looked out for us. They have watched my husband and I mature as a married couple and have watched our oldest girl grow into a beautiful young lady. And our Gumball! She’s everyone’s baby. They absolutely love her and loved on our family every step of the way.

Since I’ve been in Alabama I’ve had 5 jobs. You heard that correctly. Count them, 5!! Which have all been instrumental in my many lifelong friendships that I have gained over the past few years. God allowed each one to be better than the last. Each one was very emotional upon leaving. I cried with my co-workers and even supervisors that took to my family and I as if we were all family. Over a short amount of time, I became extremely close with each person I came in contact with. Coming into this chapter of my life, I was a little skeptical about getting to know people or allowing those to get close to me on a personal level. I understood going in that this chapter wouldn’t be the final chapter, but it was all a part of the journey. Since I had this basic understanding, I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to allow myself to befriend someone, let alone numerous people knowing that it would be temporary. But as my “comfortability” (my own word lol!) factor began to rise and laughter began to be had, I opened myself up to like-minded individuals, some that we had similar paths growing up, and even some being the complete opposite of myself but just out of loving people for who they are, I inherited friends that I know for a fact I can carry with me through this lifetime.Not only through relationship did this whole experience enlighten us, but through the rich history this place holds. There are remnants of history lining the streets that you walk on and drive through everyday. Reading the history books is one thing, but to actually hear the stories of those that witnessed first hand what was printed in our books not only intrigues me but also saddens me. To know that what I read to pass a History class, was their everyday reality. Yet it is a testament to how resilient our people were and STILL ARE, in many communities. (Below: 16th Street Baptist Church; Replica of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birmingham jail cell)

I could go on and on about how great Alabama was to us and how it will ALWAYS be my 2nd home. To the extent that we even have multiple discussions about buying land and a home here, so we can always come back and spend time here, summers and what not. Growth in many aspects of the word have taken place here for us individually and together. Alabama will always hold a special place in our hearts. And for those that want to know what I decided…. ROLL TIDE it is!!!!!!!

The rainbow over our home was a reminder to me that despite the hesitation we may have had or the uncertainty that we all felt being so distant from family, God keeps his promises and confirmed that all would be alright… and it was.

WE’LL MISS YOU, ‘SWEET HOME ALABAMA’….