Two Years Ago Today, a New Adventure Began for Naomi Lynn
Can you believe how much has changed in the last few years?! Well for me, my entire life changed.
I warned you there would be posts like this - We are closing in on my two-year anniversary of being with Lite 98.7. But on this date, two years ago, is where the story begins...
I had already received the news that I had gotten the job I applied for at Lite 98.7, but now it was time to tie up all the loose ends in Michigan and get ready for what New York had in store for me.
November 12th, 2014 I went to work like it was a normal day. For whatever reason it still hadn't click in of what I was exactly doing - I had no idea how big of change I was in for. The only difference in my workday was that I left a little earlier than normal.
We had already packed up the moving truck so I could be ready to leave as soon as I got out of work - Which was going to be a long drive throughout the night - But we were ready for it. I left work around 7:30pm, headed home and sat down on the couch for a minute. It was slowly starting to sink in that this was the last few moments in my home, and that soon I would have a new place to call my home.
It was just after 9pm when I gave my mom and sister a final hug and jumped into the moving truck. My dad was coming with me, to help me move everything and get settled in. It was really happening... Here we go!
So this isn't a normal story - If it was, it would be kind of boring. "We drove from Michigan to New York, never got turned around, didn't have any problems, and moved into an apartment that was waiting for me..." Yeahhhhhh, that didn't happen.
We did get turned around twice - Once in Ohio (but that wasn't too bad, probably about a half-hour to an hour out of our way), and once in Pennsylvania. Now if you look at a map, you'll see that we didn't have to travel very far in Pennsylvania - Seriously, it was like 45 miles... But somehow that had to be our biggest mistake. We got off the highway to use the bathroom (and had no idea where we were), so it was either turn left or right. There had to be a bathroom close by. We turned right - And drove, and drove, and drove some more. Not one place to stop - Not one town or gas station... Nothing. And we had the moving truck, so turning around was no easy task - We figured we could keep driving and we would eventually come across something, but we didn't (mind you, it was about 6am at this time). We finally found a big empty lot to turn around in, so we did and started heading back the way we came. This whole adventure put a good hour and a half onto our traveling time.
We finally made it to the spot where we pulled off the highway in the first place, but instead of getting back on the highway we went straight (as if we turned left off the highway instead right in the beginning), and right on the other side of the overpass was a gas station and a Burger King.
Can I just say that was one of the best bathroom breaks I have ever had in my entire life?!
Seeing as we were all tired out from being lost (and of course being on the road for 9 hours), we decided to get breakfast while we were stopped. And that's when it began to snow....
It wasn't like just small flakes falling from the sky, this was big, wet, 'plopping' snowfall. We finished our breakfast and got back on the road. Of course, we were going a lot slower than we had been going all night - The roads were pretty messing, and for driving in an area you've never been before? Well, that makes things a little more tricky.
No worries though - We made it through the rest of our drive, just completely exhausted. If you've never driven all night, I suggest you don't do it. It's SO tiring, and just messes with your head.
So here's the other part of the story most people don't know - Probably the most interesting part...
We were supposed to arrive in Utica between 9:30am and 10am. We actually got in around 3:30pm. The reason we needed to be in town at a certain time was because I still needed to look at a few apartments - I didn't actually have a place to live yet, but I had called a few places and made appointments to come in. The scariest part of that was if I didn't find a place - I started my new job in four days (which doesn't really give you a lot of time to look).
We had such a difficult time in Utica because the GPS on my phone wasn't working right - It would tell us to turn left when there wasn't even a road there. It was like it was confused. The phone never had to load maps for that area and had no idea what was going on. Our problem was we couldn't find Genesee Street. Looking back now... That's the most ridiculous thing - How could someone not be able to find Genesee Street?! So we ended up driving around for a good hour, just looking for the first apartment I was supposed to see.
I don't know how it happened, but somehow we ended up on Genesee Street (which we realized we had driven up and down and had no idea we were on the street we needed to be). By the time we got to the apartment to view it, it was close to 5pm. I took a tour of the place, saw nothing wrong, didn't care about looking somewhere else or trying to find a better deal, I took it.
It was a crazy adventure to get out to New York, but we made it. To celebrate, the next day I went to my first Comets game (which was another adventure in itself, when you don't even know where the Utica AUD is), and that following Monday I started my first day at Lite 98.7. After a few days my dad left to head back to Michigan (but since we had dropped off the moving truck in New Hartford) he had to take a bus home. If you remember, November was nicknamed "Snowvember" because of that huge snowstorm that hit Buffalo and dropped 7 feet of snow in some areas. Yes, my dad did get stuck in Buffalo because of the storm, and that would be just the beginning of his trip back. But that's a story for another day.
Anyway, even with all the little issues we had getting out to New York, it was 100% completely worth it, and I'm glad to call Central New York my home. It's so funny to look back and see how much I didn't know when I got here, and to see how much I've learned since. The adventures will continue as well, because there's still a lot I don't know.
Here's to my first two years in New York, and here's to many more years to come!
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