California To Carolina: Blogtember: Life Takes a Turn

This Blogtember thing is pretty fun. I'm not participating in ALL of the days; just the ones that really interest me. I hope you are enjoying them too...I like to think it gives you a little more insight into the girl behind the blog.

Tuesday, September 10: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

It was actually pretty easy to pick this moment in my life. This moment was on February 28th, 2005.

Jake {my Hubby} and I had broken up after about 4 months of a long-distance relationship. He was funny because even though he had claimed he didn't feel we were "right" for each other, he called me every day...often on my breaks at work and almost always before I went to bed at night. By this date, we had been broken up almost a month...and he had called earlier that day, to let me know he had received his transfer orders. He was being relocated to Charleston, SC for the USCG.

I remember mumbling something to him such as, "Well, I guess I'll never see you again." And he said, "Don't say that." However, I didn't tell him at the moment on the phone, but I had had a funny intuitive feeling that I was pregnant for the last couple of weeks. He said for me to call him after work and we both hung up.

I hadn't missed a period yet or anything, but the intuitive feeling was really nagging at me ever since that phone call. I knew I had to take a test before I called him again. Not because I actually thought I was pregnant, but more just to get it off my mind and confirm I was just being ridiculous. So I bought the mother of all tests at the time...the EPT Digital. Because it's digital, it took a few minutes to pop up with a "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant". I had my phone open sitting on the bathroom counter with Jake's number ready to call as I waited for the test to beep. It finally did after what seemed like an hour...I looked down at it and...

"Pregnant"

I immediately pressed "Call" on my phone.

After that phone call, Jake and I had a lot to work out. He had to move. He had no choice. He begged me to come with him. Remember though, we still were broken up...and he had no intentions of getting back together "just because I was pregnant". We even tried to get his orders changed to somewhere in southern California so I wouldn't even have to worry about the choosing whether to move, but that request was denied. He was in a rock and a hard place; and I had a crazy-difficult choice to make. After all, I had only known the guy a little over 4 months. Could I really trust that he would be the father he was promising to be?

I ended up moving back to Idaho in April of that year while Jake was out on a three-month USCG tour. My dad came down to help me pack and we drove 14 straight hours back to my hometown. I wasn't settled with it, but one of my choices was to live with him until I got on my feet after I had the baby.

Over many emails, and very few phone calls while Jake was out at sea, we tried to work out this situation. He kept begging me not to keep him from being a father to his child. Eventually, I gave in, and told him I'd give him a chance. I let him know that if he messed up, I'd leave in a heartbeat. So in late May after he was back, we packed up and moved to Charleston.

We welcomed our first baby boy, Tanner on November 6th, 2005. Our lives were forever changed. But I will never forget that moment that started it all...taking that pregnancy test and being thrust into a whirlwind of hard decisions to make. But obviously, you can see it all ended up working out for the best. It didn't come without trials and tribulations in those first years, but we ended up getting back together and we got married in November 2007. We welcomed a 2nd baby boy on August 8th, 2010. We are now a happy, Christian family...and though that moment gave my life quite the turn, it was a turn for the absolute better.

I guess sometimes you have to take a leap of faith to gain a reward.