Residency Arrival

On January 2, 2022, I began to drive the 11 hours north toward Waynesboro, Tennessee. It was a bit of a bumpy road. Storms in Georgia, an emergency light coming on in the Prius, stopping at crowded gas stations along the way...my anxiety was getting the best of me. This was also my first solo trip since the beginning of this whole virus thing. I was more than ready to arrive at the peaceful farm I would be living at for the rest of the month.

I had lost phone service roughly two hours before my set arrival time, but I had let Val know what my estimated time of arrival would be beforehand. Thankfully, my gps had saved the route for me and didn't require service. Poor A.J. was about to call the police and see if there had been any accidents in the area, as our phone call cut off right after I told him about my emergency light coming on. It began to get dark. I tried my best to stay patient and calm as I made my way down an endless dirt road in the middle of the woods.

My sigh of relief came when my headlights illuminated the outline of a person waiting in the dark by the side of the road. It was Val. She smiled and waved. I had finally arrived.

As I went to bed that evening, I received a visitor who welcomed me to my temporary home. Meet Marmalade.

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