Kelsie had been saving up to move to Spain for a
loooong time. She moved toward the end of the summer. At first, she was going
to move around June, and then she had to wait for her Visa, so she pushed it
back to August. And then one more time, she pushed it back to either the end of
August or beginning of summer, I can’t remember. But anyway, she finally was
able to move to Spain! She got a job teaching English to children. She had left
after I knew that my cancer was deemed incurable. So when I said goodbye to
her, it was with the thoughts of “Wow, I’m never going to see her again on the
earth!” And it was saddening to me. I was up in Salt Lake for the weekend when
she left (Sept 18th- Ill get to that later), so I was able to grab
dinner with her at Dennys and then said goodbye.
She did enjoy the freedom and bliss and lifestyle
over there. I knew she would! She said that her job was extremely hard, though.
She was stressed out that way. I think eventually she got burned out. She told
me that she would have to travel out of town just to even attend Church. And I remember a chat I had with her
one night… she wasn’t happy. And she realized that the destination isn’t the
happiness. I’m assuming that she thought that everything would be happy and
life would be awesome once she moved to Spain, but realized that life is what
you make it--- she can be happy anywhere she goes.
Around Christmas time, I sent her a message and
wished her a merry Christmas, asked her what her plans were. She said she was
going to travel to Barcelona. So that was that. But on Christmas day, we are
sitting on the couch opening presents. There’s a knock at the door. I’m sitting
on the couch and turn my head as Mom opens the door, and there is KELSIE! She
had flown back!!!! I was SOOO shocked and everyone could see it. I was like,
“Kelsie! You’re in America! What the heck!” And the best part is that no one
knew she was back, except her older sister who was the one that picked her up
from the airport in Vegas. They said hi for about 5 minutes, and then continued
on to her Mom’s house (which none of them knew she was coming). I asked her if
she was just visiting, or what? And she told me that she’s back in the USA now
for good. She moved up to Logan just a week or two ago, got her old job at the
EconoLodge, and is just… happier I think. J
And that’s a really good lesson I’ve learned, and it kinda sucks that Kelsie
had to move all the way to Spain to learn it (but I don’t think she regretted
living there)… happiness is WHAT YOU MAKE IT! It’s not a destination. It’s not
a “once I hit this milestone I’ll be happy.” HAPPINESS IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT. You
can make happiness wherever you go!
