Going to California

At the beginning of September last year I went over to Washington to visit my sister. A few days after arriving my Dad calls to inform me that I will not be going back to Montana, and I'm no longer allowed to live with him. His girlfriend had just recently moved in with us, and her and I don't get along, so he would rather have his girlfriend live with him, than his own daughter....What a guy, huh?

I called the people that I was a nanny for and informed them that I would not be coming back. They had three kids and I felt horrible just leaving them hanging. I also found out that my Dad had called them as well and told them I ran away. Why he was lying about these things, I still don't know. I had heard about people moving out of state to become nannys and started looking on the internet for some information about it. I joined a couple of websites and within a week I had found my host family. We did a couple of phone interviews and e-mailed back and forth quite a lot. They finally asked if I would like to come live and work for them, and I accepted.

On January 12th I boarded a plane headed for California. Tons of questions were going through my mind. I was about ready to go live with some people that I had met on the internet, take care of their kids, live in their house, in a new city. I was officially crazy. I met them in baggage claim and we had awkward conversations all the way back home.

As soon as I entered the house I felt out of place. Everything was odd...The smell, the furniture...Everything. I went to the bed that night with all the questions still running through my mind. I woke up the next morning wondering where I was. It still hadn't hit me that I was actually here. The first weeks were the hardest. Getting used to the kids, and the kids getting used to me. I remember sitting at the kitchen table crying wanting to go back home. This was officially the toughest job I'd ever had.

Things have changed. The kids and I still have bad days, but they are a lot less frequent than in the beginning. Now I'm just part of the family and I feel like I belong here.

California is my new home

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