It’s been a minute since I sat down to write… or even felt like it, for that matter.

I’m not sure where to begin because everything has changed and I’m not quite sure where I left off or who I was the last time I was here.

Not where or who I am anymore, that much is certain.

I’ve made it. Well….I’m making it. ❤️

I got the hell out of that dead end small town that held me hostage by way of shared custody, poverty and fear.

I cashed out, traded my farm for a fat bank account and finally gained my freedom. I am debt and worry free. Permanent destination, unknown.

I had the worst realtor in the world unfortunately and the closing was completely bungled. We left in an unceremonious slow roll out of town, with three cats howling in a shared kennel that had been wedged into the back of my cramped Jeep. My new puppy snoring on the lap of my sad Dumpling… who didn’t share my excitement in leaving.

On a sunny morning in December, I thanked my lucky stars to be making one LAST drive across the iconic long bridge that spans the river and began our escape from Sandpoint.

Away from all the bad memories and shitty exes. Never another familiar face in the grocery store. No longer facing an endless parade of low wage, dead-end jobs. Free in every sense of the word.

Just like flushing the toilet, I washed my hands of the whole nightmare and put it all behind us. We spent the first night in a hotel in Libby Montana, three cats howling and running around the room while the puppy cried as I had a half dozen silent panic attacks whilst questioning my sanity and watching the Dumpling sleep.

Traveling across the country with three cats and a cat box is really one of those things that defies explanation. It was harrowing, to say the least. We tried harnesses and they shot around the rest area like boomerangs, doing their best to escape from another 4 hours in the kennel beside their least favorite sibling.

Considering the puppy was only 9 weeks old at the time, she was a champion road tripper. We spent 3 1/2 days making the drive and walked into our new house at twilight, just in time to pick from our new backyard Meyer lemon tree… under the light of the moon beside the sparkling pool.

72* in December, without a snowflake or familiar face for miles…. aka: paradise. ❤️