Gypsies

*Side Note: This turned into a total rant. I was going in a totally different direction, and got side tracked. I apologize if it is hard to follow.*

After only a little more than a year, I am packing my bags and leaving this place I almost called home. I will be relocating to Jacksonville, FL in less than two weeks. I'm extremely excited. Tuscaloosa was sort of a let down. The school, the culture, the "bigger" city- none of it lived up to the expectations I had when moving here. But maybe that was my problem- I had expectations. I've made a few really great friendships that I know will last a lifetime, but other than that I'm glad to be going. I welcome adventure and change. Some people don't adjust well with change, but I enjoy it. I don't get attached to things very often. And as long as it's on my terms and my time, I like stirring the pot every now and then- mixing things up a bit.

I have a cousin that moves all over the place. He never stays in one place too long. I've only recently had the chance to get to know him, yet I've admired him for years. I once asked my dad what he did for a living. My dad told me he was a gypsy. When my cousin was a child, my dad lived with his family for a while. My dad was a total badass (in the good and bad way) and was always on the move. The way my dad told the story was that they were hanging out in the yard when my cousin asked my dad what he did for a job. My dad told him he was a gypsy. Supposedly after that my cousin wanted to be a gypsy too. So that is what he became- a gypsy.

I recently had the chance to verify the story with said cousin. Once I got a little older, and especially since my dad has passed away, I have come to question his stories. My dad loved telling tall tales. Everyone knows it. So it's hard to know which stories were true, and which ones he told just to "pull our leg." But low and behold, the story is true! Which leads me to my next belief that this gypsy living must run in our family. I've always had the same urge to just go and live. A person is always weighed down with the standards of life- finish high school, go to college, get a job, get married, have kids, grow old. But that has never been a part of my plan. I used to want to be a wife and mother. When I was a teenager it's all I ever thought about. I think it had more to do with the fact that I came from a "broken" home than anything else. But once I got older and lived on my own, I realized there is so much more to life than that.

I want to live outside of the box. I want to travel the world. I want to breathe the different atmospheres. I want to struggle and learn, and do all of the things people think I'm crazy for doing. I think that is one thing that really turned me off to Tuscaloosa, and my hometown for that matter. I had so many women make snide comments about not being married when they would find out that Nick and I were just living together.

"When is that boy going to marry you?"
"He better hurry before someone else sweeps you off your feet."
"Nick, when are you going to propose to that poor girl?"

No one ever took into consideration that maybe this poor girl didn't want to get married yet, and that Nick had already swept me off my feet. I think this has a lot to do with why we haven't married yet. We want to. Eventually. But we don't want to do it just because we feel pressured by society. No one ever stops to look at US. No one ever watches us together to see how happy and in love we are. They just look at my left ring finger, and judge me for not wearing a ring. When in reality, our relationship has survived more and is stronger than most marriages. We are married in our hearts. We are committed to one another. We are in this for the long haul. We don't need a sheet of paper to declare our love. We know how we feel about one another.

And that is why I'm so happy that I get to go on all of these adventures with Nick. He's my soulmate, my right hand man, my partner in crime. He has the same dreams that I have. He has the same passion for life and living that I do. We may not do everything the traditional way, but that is what makes our life so much fun. That is what makes our love so strong. We get each other.

So we're moving to Jacksonville. We'll get jobs. We'll make friends. And we'll wait for the next adventure to come. Then we will pack our bags once again, and continue on our way.