Wow, it's been about 9 months since I wrote my last blog post. I've been wanting to write again for several months, I just haven't had anything to say. And in all honesty, that's probably because writing blogs was a form of therapy for me as I grieved the loss of Dave. However, as time has gone on, I've realized how far I've come since last year. Don't get me wrong, I think about Dave a lot and will always cherish the 2 years we shared together. But thankfully, I finally reached the acceptance part of my grieving and that's where I've been for quite sometime now. In all honesty, moving back to Orlando helped me move along in that process. So now that I'm finally feeling like myself again, I figured I'd try to start writing again and see if it still works for me, even though I'm no longer grieving the way I was last year. Things obviously have changed a lot: I got my old job back, I put myself out there and dated someone for a few months, and I've lost a couple of relationships but thankfully, I still have my family, friends, and Dave's parents Paul and Adrienne in my life. And I'm making some new friends through work and a new church small group, who I've shared my story with, which is becoming easier each time as I'm finally seeing the good that is coming out of the hell I endured.
Coming back to Orlando almost a year ago was the best decision I could have ever made! God clearly wasn't done here, I've barely scratched the surface. The transition wasn't easy since I literally was starting from square one. I was able to hold some seasonal jobs to keep me busy until March, when I returned to Super Star Parade at Universal in my original role, as well as receiving an opportunity to cross train into another role. Since then, it's literally been go go go. And those of you who know me well know that I love being busy, I can't sit around and do nothing. This summer especially has been the craziest busiest summer of my life. It's peak season at Universal, which means more hours at work and more money :) I've also taken a few trips with friends and family. I finally went back and visited Arkansas back in May, nine months after I made my move to Florida. It was wonderful visiting family and old friends and so wonderful hearing the words of encouragement. It seemed to be a unanimous agreement that me moving back to Orlando was the best thing for me as lots of people told me they could see a huge difference in me.
June began with a trip to Jacksonville to the Florida Country Superfest with my friends Aleah, Jamie, and Casie. It's a two day music festival with some of the biggest names in today's country music. All I can say about that weekend was WOW! I got to see some of my favorite artists, mainly Miranda Lambert and Luke Bryan, both who put on a spectacular show. After the festival, we stopped in St. Augustine Beach on the way back home. If you ever get a chance to go to St. Augustine, I highly recommend it. It's got the most gorgeous beach, not to mention lots of history as it's America's oldest city. After I returned from the Superfest, my family came to Orlando for a Disney/Vero Beach vacation. They spent two weeks here so I was able to have all three of my little nieces for an extended period of time. Claire had the best time out of all of us as she was able to meet Anna and Elsa from Frozen, who are her favorite characters right now. And best of all, my mom had gotten FastPasses for us so we didn't have to wait in a five hour line! Amelia is the middle niece, she's a little over a year old and is into everything. She started walking about a couple of months ago and has discovered the art of taking everything out of purses and knocking items off my coffee table. She might be a little stinker but boy is she fun to watch. And finally, I got to meet Michael and Erin's newly adopted girl, Brooklyn. She's about nine weeks old now and is such a cutie. I can't wait to see what kind of personality she will have as she's already fun to be around. Sure, the trip was tiring at times but it's always fun to have the whole family together as it doesn't happen very often.
Last week, I spent a few days in Key West with my friends Jamie and Aleah. Jamie had never been and I didn't get to experience as much as I would've liked last time as we could only stay for two days so we all decided we needed to take a trip down there. The only complaint I had is how HOT it is in Key West in July! I recommend it for a vacation but go in the fall lol. Other than the humidity, the trip was so much fun. It didn't take much time for us to adjust to island time and it was nice to not be on a time crunch, we just explored the city and returned to some of our favorite spots. Probably my favorite night was when we went to watch the sunset at Mallory Square, there's no better view than that and it's especially beautiful watching it set over the ocean. Besides Hawaii, I can't think of a better place to watch a sunset, it's just gorgeous. So if you're considering a trip to the Keys, feel free to talk to me because I'm pretty much an expert :) on the way back to Orlando, we stopped in Miami Beach, ate some delicious Spanish food, and walked up and down the strip. That place is bumping night and day, we were there in the late afternoon and people were already blasting music everywhere we went. We've decided that next time we stop in Miami, we should stay longer, it's definitely like a different country down there but it sure seems like a lot of fun.
In a nutshell, I've done a lot this summer and I'm so thankful for the opportunities I've had to do so. Losing Dave has taught me to really appreciate life and just be thankful for what you have. I might not have anyone by my side currently but I do have wonderful family and friends, a fun job, all the essentials, and I get to live in a tropical climate in one of the greatest cities in the world :) so if anyone wants to know how I'm doing a year and a half later, the answer is pretty dang good! Hard times are to come I'm sure but if I can endure all of this and not lose my mind, with God's guiding hand, I think I'll be just fine :)
