Something For Sunday:
After living in California for 21 years my husband and I finally made The Great Escape to Texas. Yes, California is beautiful. Yes, you can’t beat the weather. And yes, good wine flows abundantly! In fact, wine is the only commodity that is less expensive in California than anywhere else I’ve visited. I thank my Lord for that affordable wine because that place had driven me to drink and cuss. That wine kept me sane all those years, that and my friends. They were family since neither my husband, nor I had family there.
Nonetheless, even the good of our California life could not keep us there. We finally had an opportunity to flee oppression and live in freedom. Please keep that statement in the context of living in the United States of America where having to go to another room to grab a charger for your iPhone is oppressive (#firstworldproblems). Freedom it is a euphemism for: We’re more likely to be left alone in Texas than in California. I didn’t know that was important to me until I moved to California.
I moved to California for a job. I moved there not knowing a soul. My name was Cynthia Sims. Along the way I meet Wade Shaffer, a native Texan, and I realize he is the first person to take an interest in me and who challenges me to think. He asks me questions that in hindsight are no big deal, but at that time, they were very uncomfortable for me. He wears glasses and used to have braces. Which makes me think he carried a lot of books in school. My rudimentary checklist. We marry and I take his name. My name is now Cynthia Shaffer. We have two children who are native Californians and Texas transplants. God blessed us with a wonderful life in California. We look forward to His continued blessings in the great state of Texas.
For this native military brat, it’s good to be home.
