#SBRLLR: Through the Looking Glass (Part 1)
“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things. “ ― Theodore Roosevelt Mom flew ahead to Tampa to try to figure out where we were going to live while Dad stayed in San Diego to wrap up his last weeks of battalion command. Pa Pa Dan met me in San Diego towards the end of July, and together we embarked on a week-long road trip to Tennessee, our family’s minivan stuffed to bursting with family treasures and our two golden retrievers. The dogs rode comfortably in state between our television and my mother’s silver chest. Mom and I then spent a week at her parent’s house in Tullahoma before the two of us lit out together for Florida. We crossed the state line late one summer afternoon and stopped at the Welcome Center. I grabbed a complimentary cup of freshly squeezed orange juice and marveled at the palm trees and the flatly tropical terrain. Once again, I’d landed in a foreign country.