Nevada: a very rocky start

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March 2008 – Reno NV 

I always told myself that I loved Illinois, the corn fields, the smell of livestock every morning before I went to school.  I never wanted to leave.  My grandpa was born, died and even burried in the same town in Southern Illinois.  In fact, my entire family, from cousins my age, to aunts and uncles a couple generations older than me,  is comfortable remaining stagnant, in one place: where they were born and where they will eventually die.

I found myself in this same rut a few years back.  I was comfortable, I knew everybody and everything from the owner of the local pharmacy and grocery store to the quickest route from my house to the movie theater (I even knew the owner of the movie theater and was able to screen new movies for free from time to time).  I had no desire to see new things, to travel, and moving was definitely the farthest concern from my mind.

But alas, recession blind sided the country in 2001 and my father was laid off from his job of 20 years.  I was in high-school, and I tried every excuse I could to stay in Illinois, including bording school, but in 2002, after living over a year without an income, the only job available in my dad’s profession was in Reno, Nevada. 

Suffice to say, after we sold the house that everyone from my grandpa to my dad helped build, I moved with my mom and dad to the vast, unknown West.  I left my sister, my brother-in-law, and two nieces in Illinois along with the rest of my family.   I didn’t know what to expect.  I left crying, looking back on my familiar home the entire way. 

The drive to our new home reminded me of something out of Steinbeck, and I still feel to this day, that we’re lucky we didn’t have to burry anyone on the way. 

It was a four day excursion and along with the majority of our most treasured belongings that we didn’t trust the moving company with, we were hauling six ducks, a rabbit, and a great dane across the country.

When we finally arrived in Nevada, we were greeted by a giant mud-slide that derailed our caravan, breifly.  But what was even more upsetting was that our house was still being lived in by the previous owners.  So, with our six ducks, one rabbit, and great dane, we lived in a hotel for a week, while I suffered from continual nose-bleeds from the dry climate I thought would never go away.

I hated Nevada, it looked like death compared to the lush green of Illinois.  It was dry and brown and there were no trees to provide any reliefe from the sun’s unending abuse.  What was worse, I didn’t have a friend in the world to share my greif with. 

What happened?  As a 17 year-old girl, My 3-year-old great dane, Daisy, literally became my best friend.  I talked to her like she was a real human being, we went on walks together, I would’ve taken her to school and work with me if I could have.  Without Daisy, the year of my life in Nevada would have been even more hellish than I couldv’e imagined.

Although Daisy died freakishly, the vets said they’ve never seen a mesenteric torsion in a Dane (gastric torsions are very common in Great Danes, in fact, Daisy survived this breed-specific malady) the reality is, the move to Nevada forced me out of a shell that Illinois kept me locked in for the better part of my life.

After a year of living in melancholy, my heart aching for the vast, green farmland of my home-state, I lost over thirty pounds.  I started working and actually gained the motivation to learn how to drive.  I’ve traveled the country and gone to Europe.  And of course, I’ve met some wonderful people I know will stay in my life forever.  

I can’t say I owe this change to Nevada.  But evolutionarily, life is not meant to stay stagnant.  Look at the Galapagoes, a string of islands, untouched by human development.  Finches and tortoises have migrated from island to island, and by doing so have changed, adapted to live longer lives.

I look back at my family still stuck in the same rut, living and dying in the same place they were born, living with eyes closed.  I wonder, I hope, that I have started a migration that will better their lives.       

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Filed under Change, Illinois, Moving, Southern Illinois, evolution, family, nevada