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/in Ideas, Life/by Catherine HaslagNorthern Migration, Part 3
/in Life/by Catherine HaslagI drove north to Austin, MN on the second day of 2011. By the time I drove through the middle of Iowa, the ground was totally white. I wouldn’t see green grass or experience temperatures above 20 degrees for nearly 2 months. I stopped twice to sob uncontrollably and otherwise cried tears of joy, sadness, and utter fear off and on during my 8-hour drive north. Most of my possessions were loaded on a U-Pack truck that would arrive about a week later. My little Mazda 3 Sport was loaded to the ceiling with what I would need until then: clothes, a few cooking items, my TV and laptop, sleeping bag, inflatable mattress, breakables, a stadium chair, and every one of my plants. I am still amazed that none of them tipped over on the trip north considering how precariously they were lodged in my car.
I unloaded my car, set up the few items I had, and then collapsed on the floor in tears in the living room. The events of the past few weeks had caught up with me. I called my close friend Susan and sobbed to her. She would get me through the next months of adjustment to my new life. We would spend 1-2 hours on the phone nearly every night. Our conversations helped keep me grounded and cut the loneliness of this new world. I met new people all day, every day, but I had no friends yet in my new town. It would be a few months before I started to make friends and a year before I felt anchored in this place. She got me through those first and hardest months.
The next morning, I headed to a local coffee shop to use their internet and then to a local clothing store to purchase a pair of snow boots – the first pair I had owned since I was about 11. These weren’t moon boots but rather a warm and sturdy pair of Keens that came halfway up my calf. They kept my feet much warmer and drier than the sneakers I brought with me.
Over the next week, I was consumed with getting oriented to my new position. I completed lots of paperwork, met a ton of new people, and prepared for the spring semester, which started one week after I arrived in Austin.
I threw myself into the work and started to settle into life in Austin. I discovered the nearby nature center and tried cross country skiing for the first time. I bought a heavy, marshmallow winter coat from Eddie Bauer. I learned how to drive on snowy roads. I grieved the loss of the life I had built in Springfield and explored my new Minnesota home. I started seeing a counselor to help navigate all the changes life brought my way. My life opened up to me in a way I had never experienced as time went on. I realized I could be as big as I wanted in my new home and was able to reinvent myself in many ways. Sometimes we have to move to a new place to find ourselves. While it seemed like I was losing so much when I moved to Austin, I was gaining more than I could have ever imagined.
On Thursdays, I had a break between classes that allowed me to take lunch at a little café called The Brick House. This delightful establishment had delicious food and a relaxing atmosphere. It reminded me of my favorite restaurant in Springfield, MO – Tea Bar and Bites. The Brick House quickly became a respite for me. I would take a book, find a corner table, and read and enjoy a wonderful lunch. Often, a retired couple would have lunch there at the same time I did. Sometimes, I could hear their conversations with the owner of the café when the other customers cleared out. I realized we had similar politics and one day chimed in on their conversation. This happened several times before they invited me to have lunch with them. This eventually turned into a weekly meal and a wonderful friendship that survives to this day. Thanks to eavesdropping and politics, I made my first friends in my new home.
That first year in Minnesota was challenging and amazing. I went “Up North” and walked across the Mississippi River at Itasca State Park, attended the Great Minnesota Get Together (aka the Minnesota State Fair), walked across a frozen lake for the first time, bought a bike and started cycling, found my way in my new career as an educator, made some new friends and stayed connected with old friends, and did a lot of work on me. Above all, I made a new life for myself. At the end of 2011, I was amazed at how much life had changed in just one year because I said “yes” to a job offer in the parking lot of a Hobby Lobby.
It’s the best “yes” I uttered in my life.
This is part 3 of a 3-part blog.
If you missed part 1, click here. If you missed part 2, click here.
Northern Migration, Part 2
/in Life/by Catherine HaslagWhen I woke up the morning of December 22, 2010, the world came closing in on me. I was leaving Springfield, my home for the past 11 years, all my friends and family, and moving 500 miles north to a place where I didn’t know anyone or anything…alone. I thought I had to be insane to do this. How was I to find an apartment in 10 days? Most of my furniture I could handle on my own, but the bigger stuff…how was I going to move it from the truck into my new place? How was I going to move that far away? U-Haul? Hire a moving company? How was I going to afford this move? All the details of the move overwhelmed and suffocated me.
Waves of glorious excitement and crippling fear crashed over me for the next 12 days. I couldn’t envision what my life would look like past January 2, the day I would drive north and begin my new life in Austin as college faculty. While I was being given the opportunity I had hoped for, my future appeared as a black void in my head.
I celebrated Christmas with my family. I was barely able to talk about my new career move and upcoming relocation. Thinking about the move to Austin made me cry. While I knew the career move was the right thing to do, I was terrified by all the other changes that came with it. I was given the chance to wash my life clean in the Minnesota snow, reinvent myself, and pursue the career of my dreams, but I was frozen in fear.
I wasn’t really moving to Austin alone, even if it felt like I was. I was surrounded by people who loved and supported me the whole way. I had time over the holiday break to catch up with two old friends, Scott and Lara, back home who let me unload some of my concerns and get my head together. My family was excited about my new job and offered support in any way they could. My friends, Susan and Jessica, came to my house a couple of days after Christmas to help me pack boxes and decide what would go with me in the car and what would be loaded into the U-Pack truck to arrive in Austin about a week after I did. Co-workers celebrated my move and bid me farewell at my favorite bar, The Mudd Lounge. More friends came over and helped me load the truck on December 31. My friend, Heather, connected me with a church group in Austin that could help me unload my stuff from the truck when it arrived. Tammy listened to me as I cried and swept the empty living room of the 2-bedroom bungalow that had been my safe haven for the past year. I even managed to find an apartment in Austin and arranged to sign the lease when I rolled into town.
In The Alchemist, it says, “…when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.” All the pieces that fell together in those 12 days are evidence that this statement is true.
On January 2, I woke to a young year and a fresh start. I wrote in my journal that morning:
“Goodbye, Missouri.
For 30 years I have called you home. Now I leave for a new home and a new life. Thank you for the walks, time on the river, and beautiful places I’ve lived.
Dear Minnesota,
Please be kind to me and let me get some good winter gear before you baptize me in snow.”
I headed north that morning with my car full of plants, clothes, and a few other items to get me by until the rest of my stuff arrived. I was a mix of sadness and excitement as I headed up Highway 13 and eventually I-35. I pulled over twice in Iowa to cry. Everything looked so new, so fresh. Life was new and unknown…and full of potential.
This is part 2 of a 3-part blog.
If you missed Part 1, click here to read it. If you are ready to read part 3, click here.