In case you’ve missed it on the blog somewhere, even though I am from the South, I actually spent four years in Utah for high school. Well, technically speaking, it should have been high school but they do things a little differently out there so I had to spend one year in junior high before heading to high school. My parents tried to give me the ‘you’ll be top dog again of your school’ pep talk, but it didn’t help… while all my friends in South Carolina were headed off to high school, I was heading to junior high. However, the point is, I used to live in Utah, north of Salt Lake City at the base of a mountain in a small community called North Ogden. I had lived in the same house in South Carolina my entire life up to this point, so it was quite a culture shock to move to Utah. And when I moved back to South Carolina four years later for college, I experienced reverse culture shock. Even in my own country.

I hadn’t seen my best friend from high school since the Christmas after we graduated, so nine years later, I was long overdue to see her.  After an all day drive from Bend, Oregon to Salt Lake City, Utah, I rolled into my hometown after dark. Because of fog, I couldn’t see the moonlight-illuminated outline of the mountains, and I realized how much I missed those beautiful views of the Wasatch Front. I collapsed into bed that night, exhausted, but eager to meet my friend for breakfast the next morning.