When the “ball” dropped bringing in the New Year I prayed it would be a better year for all of us. I remember where I was when I thought this. I was laying in bed, propped up with three comfy pillows with my covers snuggling around me. I had the T.V. on and my ever loving pen and notebook on my writing tray sitting on top of me. I like to bring the new year in writing. It’s just something I do.  

Well, I was there, it was midnight, and my phone started going off the wall, beeping and buzzing and playing music. I looked over to the side of me where my hubby was dead to the world around him, asleep. I whispered “Happy New Year” and kissed his nose. He didn’t stir. Then I replied to all the texts wishing all a VERY Happy New Year. A few minutes after the ball dropped I heard fireworks and gun shots outside of our bedroom window. Then I heard huge booms and because we were living near the base in Tucson, I put my fuzzy pink pajama pants on, with my fuzzy pink slippers, grabbed my Def Leppard hoodie and headed to our patio to see if I could see the fireworks. (Yes, my fashion sense sucks. But hey, it was midnight.) 

My son was sitting on one of the chairs with a big smile on his face. We wished each other Happy New Year and I sat down beside him. I can remember the moon being so bright that night and we looked up and just stared. The booming went on, the shouts of other’s wishing anyone who would listen a Happy New Year went on, gun shots going off in the distance went on for several minutes. We weren’t able to see fireworks, but we saw the moon. We saw lots of stars and we saw something else. Or rather, we felt something else that was more meaningful. 

A sense of hope and peace. At precisely 12:15, (I know this because a text came in and I glanced down and noticed the time.) A feeling of complete peace and happiness hit me. A relief of sorts, a feeling of all is right and a feeling of peace. Now, I realize we are a war torn nation, we are financially a mess, and there are huge deficits, no jobs to be had, and more and more people living on the streets. So, with all this and this isn’t even mentioning incurable diseases, how could I feel what I did?  

I honestly do not know and I haven’t questioned it. All I knew was that for the year and a half that I lived in Arizona, we as a family struggled so hard there were times I thought we’d end up living at the park behind our place. We went without meals many times, we went without the simplest staples too, but we never ever once allowed ourselves to get down about it. We had each other, there were four of us, and all four of us became the best of friends during this time. We thanked God for keeping us healthy and alive, we thanked Him for giving us the ability to actually pay rent, the utilities and buy food in that order. Yes, we sure did go hungry many times but it wasn’t His fault, it was 100% the economy’s fault. We laughed and joked around daily, and sometimes we had a tear or two but we never ever lost the faith. We remained strong as a unit; in fact we grew stronger during that time. For that, I’m thankful.  

Anyway, we decided that we all had enough of Arizona and the hard times it seemed to offer us. It was like we weren’t supposed to be there and we kept fighting the natural order of things by staying. We pushed buttons and pissed someone off I’m sure cause unseen forces wanted us gone. I think we went back to Tucson for a purpose and we served that purpose and it was time to get out of town. Honestly, I think we served our purpose the first month we were there but the hubby didn’t think so. It took a long time for him to finally say he had enough after he went without a job for way too long. Another thing that really sealed the deal for us was spending the holidays away from our other two kids and their kids.  

On New Years Day, after getting an amazing good nights sleep we all sat down and talked seriously about moving back to Colorado. We all voted to leave AZ. However, we had a tiny problem. The funds it would take to do this, was way out of our reach. That didn’t stop us though and we ordered the ABF trailer to arrive at our apt. complex on the 6th of January. We began collecting boxes and started packing. We still had no idea how this was going to happen though. We just kept going. The ABF trailer didn’t have to be paid for until we arrived at our destination. Basically, you don’t pay; you don’t get your stuff. That was not an option as we didn’t want to lose anything that we packed in the trailer. Did that stop us? Nope. We kept packing not knowing how in the world we were going to come up with the money for gas for the two trucks we own, never mind how we’d pay for the ABF trailer. As my husband said, ‘Just keep going, thing’s will work out like they’re supposed to.’ So, we did. We hadn’t lost the faith in all this time, why start now? 

A day later we received an envelope in the mail, and inside this envelope was the answer to our prayers. It came VERY unexpected from someone we all admire and love dearly. It was a check that was enough to cover the cost of the move. Now, let me state here that we didn’t tell ANYONE our plans. Yet, there I was sitting there with a check in my hand that would cover the move and get our stuff off the trailer once in Denver. Can you see the tears rolling down yet?

There wasn’t a dry eye there. The four of us cried in thanks and happiness and we looked up and thanked Him.  

Once we arrived in Denver, my husband landed a job where he was offered a free apartment, free utilities, and an hourly wage. We now live downtown Denver, in a free apartment and he loves his new job. We pray often that the job is here for a long time to come.  

Now, the only way I can even begin to understand this strange miracle of sorts is to just look up and know that HE made it happen. HE put the bug in our angel’s ear and that angel sent that check that helped to get us back home and back on the right track. I won’t say that the whole time we lived in Tucson that it was bad. A lot of good came from being there too. One of the biggest was the release of my first novel, “River of Tears.” The second good thing that came out of being in Tucson was reconnecting with my brother. I hadn’t seen or heard from him in five years. He took a different path in life that he got lost in, and he turned away from all of us. Thankfully he is once again talking to us, my mom, and my sister. The other big thing that happened while I was in Tucson was me finding one of my best friends. Our parents were very close friends the whole time we were kids. I grew up in Chicago, he grew up in Tucson, and we used to visit them as often as we could. He and I remained close until we both started our families; we each went our different ways for twenty years. One day I was taking a break from writing, I headed over to Facebook and his name came to mind, so I looked him up and what do you know? He was right there! (There’s a whole story in itself about this and maybe one day I’ll share it.) I talk to him all the time now; I met his kids and went to his house a few times. My once jealous hubby now understands that he is my oldest friend, and I do love him, but as a friend. He’s a keeper! And he takes care of my web page for me.

So, a lot of good stuff came from our stay in Tucson but it was time to move on. 

I learned long ago not to question the Man’s motives, just do what you can and let Him do the rest. I live by that.