Since I was a little girl, I have always loved tan skin, beach waved hair, the salty ocean, and walking on the beach at sunset after filling my stomach to the brim with seafood. I always planned to move to the beach and have a colorful beach house with a view that took your breath away. I hoped that my friends and family would visit for vacations and I would be tan all the time and I would fish with my husband and lather my kids with sunscreen before we got on our boat.
All things beach catch my attention and spending a week at the beach with my family during the summer was something I looked forward to year after year.
Recently, I began dating a guy from the mountains. I took a weekend trip there and I was not looking forward to the cold air or the altitude making my ears pop, but I sucked it up because I liked this guy a lot more than I would have liked to admit considering I had never met him in person before the trip.
When he picked me up and we began the climb up the mountain, the temperature was dropping and the roads were getting farther and farther from sea level. As I looked to my right, there was a mountain that went as far up as I could see and as I looked passed him in the driver's seat to the left I saw a breathtaking view of the town we had just left.
I kept trying to find good in the fact that I was 5 hours from the salty sea and it was harder than I imagined to find anything good out of being so far from my favorite place on Earth, but the view of both him and the valley to my left was a good start.
We continued dating and after my 4th trip up the mountain, I found myself finding good in this place that was so different than where I thought I wanted to be in life. I found myself driving around to mountain and remembering where places were or knowing where I was going. I knew where restaurants were and shopping and when he asked if I wanted to go somewhere, I actually knew where we were going.
I was so surprised that this mountain was capturing my attention and I started to realize that I might see myself living there one day. It wasn't the ocean, but it seemingly brought me the same peace that the ocean did. It was so quiet and peaceful and it was just close enough yet just far enough to the rest of the world to make me feel at home.
Since falling for this mountain and the boy that lived at the top on it, I have done a lot of thinking about my future and where life may take me in the near future.
It's scary to think about but it's the reality and it's a part of growing up. It's hard to think about getting out of your comfort zone and possibly moving away from the town and the family that you have spent your whole life with but it makes it a little easier to think about now that I have found comfort in not only a new person but also a new place that I may be calling home one day.
