It's official, we've been in Mississippi one whole year. It's amazing to me that only a year (and two days) ago I graduated college. I don't feel old enough to have graduated college.
On May 15 2011, I graduated from the University of Missouri - Columbia with a bachelor's degree in fine art as well as two minors in textile and apparel management and art history.
My dad surprised me by on the stage during my graduation and handing me my diploma (he's is a professor in a different part of the university, but was allowed to stand at my graduation)
The next day, (May 16,) Keegan and I packed up my stuff in our U-haul and drove to Rolla, MO where he went to school so that we could pack up his stuff and leave the next day for our 10 hours drive to Mississippi.
Yes, I had naked busts. I used them for art projects.
We said our tearful goodbyes to my family and roommate and drove to Rolla to pack up Keegan's stuff and try to get some sleep for the next day.
When we got to Rolla, we finished packing up the U-haul with Keegan's things and tried to get a few hours sleep on the floor.
Keegan's little shed house was depressingly empty
We got up at 4 a.m. to start our 10 hours journey. Keegan's car was on a trailer on the back of the U-haul which meant we couldn't park anywhere for food. We ate at a lot of drive-thrus that day. (This picture was taken at a McDonalds near the Missouri/Arkansas border when we stopped for breakfast.)
We drove through a lot of mist in the Ozark Mountains
And flooded ditches in Arkansas. (Funny story, they don't really name their creeks and rivers in Arkansas like most states do. They number their ditches. If you break down, you have to tell the tow-truck, "I'm by ditch 37...")
The Mississippi River was extremely flooded. It was literally 5 feet below the highway
We made our way through Tennessee
and eventually got to Mississippi and our apartment.
We started to unpack
and eventually our empty apartment turned into...
a mess.
Eventually we got the mess cleaned up and started our lives in Mississippi.
I'm not going to lie, it took us a while to get used to living in Mississippi. The culture down here is different (I will never get used to people calling me Ma'am,) and there is still a race problem, even though people don't want to admit it.
Over the course of a year, so many changes have happened to our small family.
In October, we got engaged!
But unfortunately a few weeks later, my grandma on my mom's side passed away.
As somewhat of a blessing in disguise, my mom and I went up to Canada for her funeral. I hadn't been up to see my extended family in about 7 years and re-met a lot of people.
In November Keegan bought himself his dream car
Keegan and I settled down and spent Thanksgiving with one of our good friends' family in rural Mississippi.
In December, Keegan turned 24 and we started the process of buying our first house.
My middle sister turned 18 and we had the joy of spending both Christmas and New Years with my family. We also spent a few days with Keegan's family which was my first time meeting his extended family.
2012 brought on the joys and annoyances of wedding planning. While in Missouri for the holidays, we bought my wedding dress and officially settled on a venue for the wedding.
January 28, we officially became homeowners.
On February 4, we moved into our new house.
And here we are now, 78 days away from our wedding with our own home and Keegan's dream car. I can't believe how much has changed in the span of just a year.
Why did we pick up our entire lives and move to small-town Mississippi you ask? Well I can blame it all on Keegan. He is a metallurgical engineer and can only work in a few places throughout the States. Mills are normally in small towns that are made up mostly of the people who work at the mill. They're in such random areas because they produce a lot of nose and smells that a normal city wouldn't appreciate. I knew that being with Keegan meant living in a remote place (the "best" area is in Northern Mississippi, about 45 minutes from Memphis,) but I don't mind. I kind of like living in the county. Going to the city (Tuscaloosa or Tupelo) is a special all-day thing that allows us to get away from our small town.
Don't get me wrong, I haven't turned "country" on you. I would kill to have a mall, Target and Starbucks closer than an hour away, but I'm somewhat adapting to small town life. We've met some awesome people down here and even though they're all older than us (I'm the youngest around by 10-20 years,) I enjoy hanging out with adults. It's strange to me, because I don't see myself as a adult yet, but I seem to mesh with these people well.
It still blows my mind that we've gotten engaged, own our own home and are getting married in 78 days. If you had told me that this is how my life would look last year while we were driving to Mississippi, I would have laughed at you.
I'm so thankful to have Keegan in my life as well as a supportive family who gets so excited any time we come home. It was amazingly hard for me to move down here away from my family, but it has really taught me a lot about myself and my relationship with Keegan. We're closer than we've ever been before and I love it. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!
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