Well here it is. Tomorrow we leave Ridgecrest.

Honestly, when we moved here I couldn't wait to leave. This dry and dusty land is such a far cry from the bigger, green and rainy city of Seattle that I had grown to call home. I had quit my corporate job, been married just over a year, had three dogs, two stepkids entering their teens and absolutely ZERO idea what the Lord had in store for us in this place. It was a difficult transition to say the least.

The first six months were tough. Isolated and swallowed up by a life that was completely foreign to me, I found myself having feelings I never experienced before. Introverted as I am, I craved connection. I needed community. Joining our church and starting my business soon after that, I began to see the beauty that is this town. Granted there are many positives and negatives about any city, but it didn't take too terribly long before we started to feel more comfortable here and I started to feel more like myself.

As we roll out of this place and on to another adventure, there are many things I will not miss. "Off roading" through much of the city streets, the incessant and unforgiving winds, the dust, the dust, the DUST, the suffocating wall of 110 degree heat that greets you when you walk outside, the yearlong (and seemingly pointless) road construction projects, that sense of lack of privacy because someone always knows someone who knows that person who knows someone else who knows you.

But there are many things that I will miss. Including the ability to get anywhere in town in basically 10 minutes, our church community, running into people everywhere you go (well, I might not miss that!) and most importantly I will miss the Sinclairs, the Smiths, the Gages, the Deardons, the Logans, the Wetzels, the Harris's, the Sherouses, the Hendersons, the Christmans, the Schwerins, the Bennetts, the Ostroms, the Gillilands, the Williams, the Withams, the Ellwells, the McGees, the Webbs, the Ochoas, the Chatmans, the McClellands, the Barkers, the Hopkins, the Pollocks, the Fowlers and the many, many more that I am sure that I missed.

When it comes down to it, it's not the city that matters, is the people in that city. And we have been blessed beyond measure knowing the people in this city.

I chose this photo to include in this post because it really sums up my feeling about Ridgecrest. When thinking about this town, this is not an image you would likely conjure up as representative. My guess is that most people might be shocked that this image was taken right smack dab in the middle of the town. But that is exactly why I chose it. This town is not always what it seems.