The lovely Danielle over at Sometimes Sweet is starting a community blog project called Journal Day! Weekly, she’ll be sharing a writing prompt to spur your creativity.
This week’s prompt is:
Describe a “first” (first date, first lie, the first time you experienced something, first time in a particular setting, etc). Include as many details as possible to paint a picture.
. . . .
I was almost 25 years old the first time I moved away from home. Unlike many of my friends, I never moved away for college. Even after graduation, I only moved a fifteen minute drive away from my parents’ house. I never even intended to move away from my home town. As an only-child in a family where no one moves away, it just wasn’t an option that crossed my mind.
But at the prompting of my then-fiancé, I found myself packing my bags to move 600 miles southwest to Nashville, Tennessee.
I didn’t want to go; I begged not to go. He insisted it would be good for both of us, specifically for our careers. I can’t deny he was right about that, but I was still fearful.
His family helped us move, and I was grateful for their help settling in. They left after a few days, and I busied myself with playing little-miss-homemaker for the week before I started my new job. I cooked and decorated and organized. I hid my fears and loneliness very well at first.
Then I started my job, and suddenly I was working opposite shifts from the handful of people I knew, and I felt isolated. Severe depression set in, and I spent many nights sobbing at home all alone. I also had horrible anxiety over work, because I’d managed to convince myself that my co-workers hated me. I remember the night my now-ex had finally had enough, and threw the phone in my direction out of exasperation, demanding that I get some help.
It took a while, but I found my niché in Nashville. I had to hit rock-bottom, but once I did, it was up-up-UP from there. I became more confident at work, and made the most amazing friends at a local knit shop. I even started teaching knitting classes. I had new friends to hang out with and things to do every night of the week. Finally, I wasn’t lonely and I felt like I belonged. I learned to truly love Nashville with all my heart.
I knew, though, that I wouldn’t stay forever. Home was with my family in Pennsylvania, and I moved back north in April 2010. But I came home a completely different person, thanks to some amazing southern hospitality.
