I have been thinking about sharing my story to a larger audience but have been unsure how to go about that.

My husband and I are going on a personal adventure that is the culmination of my life story. I thought it might be fun to start with this trip. I feel a little background is necessary for those who do not know my story.

My parents, 23 month old sister and my maternal Grandparents were killed in a car accident in 1958. I had been left with my paternal Grandparents while they went on a trip to California. It was quite a tragedy at the time and affected so many people. I was too young to comprehend the impact of it at the time.

My Grandfather passed away 5 months later. Leaving my Grandmother (Grandma) to raise me. She always told me “God left her and I to take care of each other.” I have believed this with my whole heart for my whole life.

I will post more about my Grandma and the loving, amazing woman she was in my posts. And I can say for certain she will come up often as she was my biggest influence in life. I will also add things about growing up in the 60’s and 70’s in small town Nebraska as I go. I plan to share stories of the incredible family I was blessed to be a part of. But for now I will get to the reason I am beginning this blog at this time.

During the ‘Covid” year, 2020, my cousin sent me some letters and news articles that he found in his mother’s things. His Mom was my Aunt Rita, my Mom’s Sister. One letter my Mom wrote to her mother the week before they left on their trip. The other letter was written while they were on the trip and never mailed. It was to my Aunt Rita. These letters and the news paper articles were ALOT to process. 62 years after the accident we felt like it just happened. We were in shock because the news articles were a little graphic. My husband and I could barely talk that day. I called my best friend who has known me most of my life and was able to talk it through with her. But Jay and I literally could barely speak other than that.

I am so thankful we got all of this information. It has given me a wonderful sense of closure I never would have had. It also opened up doors I would have never opened. I called my cousins I grew up with and we talked about it. I talked to my Aunt who lived at home at the time and was 18 years old and just graduating high school. The accident was never really talked about among the family. However, my Grandma always talked with me if I brought it up. How did she know how important that was for me to process it all as I grew up? In 1958 you just did not talk about these things. Another reason my Grandma is my true hero.

Because it was Covid I could not visit my other Aunt in the nursing home. We did share a long phone call and talked about so many things we needed to talk about.

Fast forward to last fall. I was watching a movie set in California. It made me think of my Mom’s letters and all the beauty she described. I never dreamed I would ever say this, but I asked my husband “Can we take a trip and drive the route my parents took on their trip? I know it will be 65 years later, but I want to see what my Mom talked about. Surely God’s beauty is still there to see.” My husband of 43 years this August, of course said “Yeah, lets do it!”

I started this blog to share my adventure with anyone who would like to ride along. I will share pictures and thoughts as we go. I can’t tell you the amount of healing that I have done since I got the letters from my Mom. Healing I am not sure I knew I needed. So now as we head out I am looking at this as a grand adventure and can’t wait to see another part of this beautiful country we live in.