6 Months

It's hard to believe that nearly 6 months have gone by since we moved to Augusta. While I don't miss my family and loved ones any less, I am finding that over time I am letting go of what I was holding on to so tightly - Jacksonville. While my bond with the city of Jacksonville is fading, my appreciation, love and desire to be close to my family is stronger than ever; this is a conflict I struggle with on a daily basis.


I'm not going to lie. The first few months of residing in Augusta were tough. Miserable is probably a better word, and my husband can vouch for my state of mind during that time. Going from a highly developed city of a million people to a predominantly rural area (with glimpses of city life sprinkled in) is quite the adjustment, to say the least. I missed my friends and family, so I escaped to Jacksonville every chance I got. However, making a 5 hour drive (one-way) every other weekend got old really fast...especially when I wrecked my brand new 2010 Camry (that I had never even made a payment on!) during two separate trips, only weeks apart, during my treks to and from Jacksonville.

When we made the decision to move here, we weren't sure if our Jacksonville house would rent out in time, so we made the decision to rent a small one-bedroom apartment in Evans, GA to save on living expenses. It turns out we were able to find pretty wonderful renters within 15 minutes of posting an ad on Craigslist, but by that time we were already stuck in a 6 month lease at the apartment. When we bought our house, I never imagined having to go back to apartment living, so this was not a decision I was happy about, but I had to be practical. The apartment was small (700 sq. ft) and dark, but was actually really nice for what is was. It was in a good location in town, and in close proximity to all the good restaurants and basic shopping (Target, Kohls, Publix, etc.). The two of us living in such tight quarters, with Ryan working around the clock and me having ample down time since I only work 3 days a week, led to me very quickly resenting that stupid little cave apartment. Most of our furniture was too large for the space, so the majority of our belongings were put in a storage unit for the time being. That is when I started to experience Pottery Barn withdrawal, as Ryan called it. The worst part was the kitchen was small and awkward, so I didn't want to cook in it. Cooking is my one true passion, so Ryan knew it wasn't a good sign that I wanted nothing to do with it. On the other hand, this quickly led to our discovery of the amazing food that the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA - that's what everyone calls the area) has to offer. I'm talking mom and pop cooking; stuff you can taste the love and passion that went into it, and is just plain yummy and unique! No big generic chain restaurants here - only the good country stuff. Needless to say, the combination of my sulking on the couch and feeding my homesickness resulted in having to adjust pants sizes. Totally worth it. :)

Thankfully, we were able to get out of our lease a little early, and found an amazing deal on a rental house in Grovetown, GA. It's a little off the beaten path, and I now have a 15-20 minute drive just to get into town or to the nearest Publix. I was calling it country living for a long time, but my dad quickly made fun of me for that - I may have exaggerated it just a little - when he saw it, because what he pictured as living off dirt roads, is actually a beautifully developed (and fully paved) subdivision, filled with gorgeous and massive houses and estates. We live in the more modest section of the neighborhood, in a 3 bedroom/2 bath, 2000 sq. ft. brick house, on a 1/2 acre lot. While it does not have my saltwater pool or newly renovated kitchen with granite and stainless steel that my Jacksonville home so proudly boasts, I find that I love this home equally. It has a fireplace and hardwood floors, a formal dining room, PLUS a huge eat-in kitchen that has a desk space and an island with a bar in it. I am loving spending as much time as possible in the kitchen again. It feels like a home, and everyday I find myself happier to be there. My landlord let me pick out the interior paint colors, which I really had fun with. The gorgeous hardwoods, combined with the warm taupe (really more of a latte brown) wall color, my creamy sectional, and if I do say so myself, expertly picked out decor :) really makes for a sincerely welcoming and wrap-around-you warm home feel. I don't know who loves it more - me, or the cat. Lily, our not-so-friendly, but extremely comical feline child, spends her days planning her attacks and slipping and sliding along the floors, running throughout the house as fast as possible. The problem is that her fuzzy little paws have no traction, so she usually has to stop by slamming into the wall or a piece of furniture, landing upside down the majority of the time, and then literally shaking it off as she gets back to her feet. This whole ordeal could easily be avoided if she would just stop her evil attempts to kill us, but where's the fun in that?

It's amazing how much happier I find myself now that we are in a home again. I have come to enjoy the slower paced lifestyle of living in a semi-rural area. While it may not be "country living," to someone else's standards, it is for me when you compare it to my former life. There is something so serene about having bunnies in your yard, and deer in the neighborhood. I have replaced busy traffic and highways with windy, hilly and beautifully scenic country roads, people that are too busy to be polite, with sincerely friendly and kind southerners, and most importantly, I have replaced stress with a feeling of calmness and contemptment. I dare to say that I am on my way to being a refreshed and completely happy version of myself.