the one where I tell you that I miss Alabama

I really haven't wanted to exhaust myself by writing this post. I wanted to stay in the honeymoon faze of being home forever. I didn't want to acknowledge that life in a big city is about a thousand times harder. I wanted to just skip over the part where my heart sinks when I drop my kids off every morning and then drive 30 minutes to work...not 5 minutes, thirty minutes. And when our older cars begin to revolt against all the commuting- I may have had a few "final straw" moments. But I try and get over it quickly- because there really isn't an available option to give up.

I knew it, I knew what we were doing. I knew enough to savor every minute of sweet little Huntsville- especially the fall colors...especially everything being 5 minutes away. We are home now, and I although I am still exhausted from the transition- my heart feels whole again- and that's the best feeling in the world. That doesn't mean that I don't miss my old life there- because I do. A lot of things never clicked for me there, but one thing sure did, and that was my job at Starbucks. My partners became as close as family, and I miss them so terribly much. I've never laughed so hard in my life than I did in that place- with those people. I probably met the peek of all frustration there as well... but It all went together and created a very fulfilling and important time of my life.

I hate to give Starbucks more credit that it's due because I think it's already a pretty ego-inflated company, but it turns out that life really does happen over coffee. You give somebody something delicious, and you take a little time to connect, and some strange magic happens. I feel so blessed to have met my Starbucks friends- they were a part of a season that was both the sweetest and the hardest time of my life. It isn't a stretch to say that they saved me, not only from the grasp of depression, but from my narrow view of the world. I'll never be the same person again because of them- and that happens to be the best part about my time Huntsville.

I miss the foothills.
I miss little Rosie's.
I miss my friends.
I miss the fall colors.
I miss the cooler weather and lower humidity.
I miss my kid's school.

So there you have it. I miss Alabama.




--
Holly Duke Torres



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