Moving to North Carolina

My family moved to Cary, North Carolina in 1993; just before I turned 10.  My dad got a new job as a computer programmer for a engineering software company.  He had been feeling a little dissatisfied in his job as a professor at BYU and decided it was time and a great opportunity for a change. 

I remember my feelings about moving. I felt really sad to leave all my friends and scared to make new ones.  Orem, where we lived before we moved, was the only place I had known and I had many friends in my ward, neighborhood, and school.  I also felt so excited to do something new.  I think that as we prepared to move, I felt more excited than I did scared, nervous or sad.  North Carolina sounded like a new, exotic place.  I don't think that I knew that North Carolina exsisted!  Everyone I talked to about the move said that it would be a great experience.  I specifically remember my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Sorensen, saying that just living there would be "like a second education" because NC was one of the original 13 colonies. I guess these were normal feelings for a 9 year-old girl. 

Our friends sent us off with a warm goodbye.  My school class had a surprise party for me and our ward also had a going away party.  I remember one of my dad's co-workers took a video of our house and sent it to us so that we could see the progress on the house (my parents bought it when it was half finished).  That video was playing during the party.

The night before we left, we spent the night in a hotel because all of our stuff was on a truck going to North Carolina.  The Bodilys, our family friends, came to say goodbye.  I was so sad.  Amber Bodily was my best friend.  When I was younger, I used to cry if for some reason we weren't able to play together.  There's a picture somewhere of the two of us on that night.  We had our arms around eachother's shoulders, but the rest of our bodies were far apart.  I think it was because we didn't want to say goodbye.

The drive to North Carolina was SO LONG!  It's about 2100 miles from Orem to Cary.  I remember spending A LOT of time in the van.  So much time that whenever I see one of those pin art toys, I feel a little carsick.  At least there was plenty of room for the four of us.  PJ and I could each have our own row in the Ford Aerostar that we drove across country. 

When we finally made it to our new house, there wasn't any furniture yet!  We all slept on the floor of my parents' bedroom.  My dad said, "This is the only time we'll all sleep in our room!"  That statement proved to be untrue.  Over the years we had a few hurricanes and I remember sleeping in their room during the worst part of the storm.

Not only did we move to a new house, we moved to a whole new environment and culture.  Utah's air was so dry, but North Carolina was so humid!  I remember waking up and asking why my pants were wet.  There was also the southern accent that we had to get used to.  When we got blinds on the windows, we couldn't understand what the installer was saying!  We just smiled and nodded.

It was quite an experience moving to North Carolina and then living there also!