"If you wants something you've never had, then you've got to do something you've never done.": Mesa, AZ or BUST!

Oh MAN!!! There's so much to say! First of all, I did it! I arrived in beautiful and HOTTTTTT Mesa, Arizona!! Yay!!
Second, not ONCE, I know... I can't believe it, but not ONCE did I take ONE picture on my drive to post for the blog. I've gotta be pathetic. I take pictures of EVERYTHING and everyone... and I didn't take pictures of my drive. I've got NO documented proof of the drive other than gas receipts and miles put on my car. BAGH! Dumb move Leav, DUMB move. If I were to make this drive again (which for those of you in the bay... it MAY happen at some point... possibly!) I will take pictures of the whole drive! Promise!! I'm crazy not to have. How many times do you get to say that you did a 12 hour drive alone... with everything you owned either strapped to the outside of your car, or filled your car and have PICTURE proof? Not I, so I will do it differently next time for SURE!

My drive. It kinda went like this... I had planned to leave on Saturday morning at about 10 or so to hopefully be in Simi Valley where my aunt lives by about 5-6 or so. HA! That SO didn't happen. I hadn't even finished packing at 10 am. I got up BRIGHT and early saturday morning after saying goodbye to all my friends in the Tri-Valley ward and not getting home till like 1, and then doing laundry and then having my home teacher help me put my car rack on the top of my car (biggest blessing of my LIFE!), I didn't get to bed until about 3. Then I woke up at 7, took my car to the dealership for an oil change and just to make sure that everything was ready for a LONG LONG LONG road trip. After that, I ran some errands to pick up some stuff for the trip, emptied my storage unit and continued to close down stuff that I hadn't had time to do earlier in the week. Then I went home and started the fun of packing, cleaning and organizing. It took me until oh, about 3pm to FINALLY get everything packed and loaded into my car. Then I had to head over to the kids to say my last and final goodbye and give Shawna a scrapbook that I'd been working on for about a year. It was quite a special moment. After a long time, and a tearful goodbye, I got in my car, stopped by Chipotle (can't have a road trip without a chipotle burrito) and hit the road!

About an hour outside of Simi Valley (where my aunt lives), I got a call from my friend Ethan... he was telling me that they were going to my friend Katie's SURPRISE Birthday party. Literally... I was just HOURS away. HOURS! I started crying. I wanted to go back to my friends. I wanted to be hanging out with all of them and celebrating Katies birthday. I just wanted to be there, to be apart of the group that I knew loved and wanted me. Ethan got very quite as I started crying... after a few minutes he said "Leavitt... are you ok?" "NO!" I cried even harder. He then reassured me that everyone (ha! good joke Ethan) would be coming down to visit. He also reassured me that it wouldn't be long until I made a new group of friends and that I wouldn't even be thinking about what they were doing.

HA! oh Ethan, how wrong were you. I still think about tri-valley and the bay area all the time. I still miss you guys, but I'm getting better all the time now. After I got to my aunts house I talked with her and my uncle and just spent time with them for awhile. It was so good to see them and catch up with them. I haven't seen them in a long time, and I will be going back to visit them. They're apart of my family that I seem to have missed out on growing up... it's something I will have to fix now that I'm only a few hours away from (ok, 6 hours, but still... ) I got to have breakfast with my cousin who's awesome in so many ways. We haven't caught up in years, and so it was good to find out what he's up to and what he's doing with his life. It certainly makes me want to come and visit even more!

Then I got in my car and drove the rest of the way to Mesa. Along the way many people got phone calls, it was destiny! I was getting SO bored sitting in a car all by my lonesome self. I kept wondering if I was doing the right thing. I mean, working for ANASAZI has been something I've wanted to do for YEARS, but still, I had just left all my friends and my kids and everything I knew to start something new... was it the right choice? I can tell you that as I crossed the border into Arizona, there seemed to be a peace that just filled my car. I felt so uplifted, I felt so right, and I knew that the Sacred Wind was speaking to me and confirmed everything I knew to be true. Yes, it would be scary, but I was strong, I was solid and it would all be ok, I just needed to trust in the Creator. The next thing I did was put my phone up to my ear, because in Arizona, there aren't cell phone laws (just no texting!).

I finally arrived in Mesa, stopped by the ANASAZI office to gear up my excitement about being "home", yes, I call ANASAZI home, and then drove to my friends house where I would be spending the next week or so until my family arrived. The Picketts were so kind and wonderful, and they were so absolutely open and welcoming. It felt so right. I unloaded all my stuff into their garage, and then went right to bed. I had training the following morning, so I knew I needed to sleep, but not to mention, I was COMPLETELY exhausted from all the driving and the lack of sleep in the past week.

So that was that, that was my drive to Mesa, and well... I MADE IT! Happy, safe and sound!
I did lie though, I did take a few pictures along my drive... so here they are! enjoy!!!