I never thought that I’d fall in love with California. Before my amazing experience this summer I was convinced that the only place for me was the Midwest. I was convinced that nowhere else in the world could even compete with the way of life in the Midwest. I was convinced that I would never be happy out on my own and so far away from my family. This summer changed so much for me.
I discovered that there are other places that I can be happy with. I discovered that even if the pace of life is a little different from what I grew up with, it’s still a LOT of fun. I discovered that the location of where you are can have very little to do with how happy you are. The people that I worked with this summer became a second family to me. (One of the workers even called me “Mi hija”, which means “my daughter”.) Every one of them brought a smile to my face on a regular basis and I had so much fun and will miss them all. Thank you to C.A., Kirsten, Colin, Lars, McCalister, Karen, Kimberly, Brenda, Aaron, Adam, Zach, Brett, Dr. Liz, Antonio, Steve, Urbano, Tomas, Alfredo, Alejandro, Jake, Sergio, Oscar, Paul and the rest of the milkers, John, Danny, Joey, Matt, Hannah, Mr. and Mrs. Clauss, Miss Doreen, Kathleen, Sal, and everyone else who I hung out with or worked with. The list is long and I’m sorry if I forgot anyone.
I am being brutally honest when I say that I didn’t want to leave California to go back to school. I didn’t want to say the goodbyes to the people or the life I had made for myself. Each of the people I worked with or hung out with helped make my experience what it was. I’m pretty sure that there are several reasons that God put me out here this summer, not just one, but one way to sum everything up is that he put me out here to help me grow. My personality is still reserved and quiet but I’m more confident in myself and the experiences I had this summer helped me with that. I can’t adequately put it into words.
My dad and sister have been putting up with a lot of complaining for the past day. I’ve been letting the fact that I didn’t want to leave affect my mood which isn’t fair to them. It’s been great having them out here seeing what I’ve been doing for the past ten weeks. For those of you who don’t know, when my dad flew out on Wednesday my sister came too as a surprise. I had a legit freak-out in my work truck when I drove up to the Hilmar Cheese Company Visitor Center to say hi to my dad before an intern meeting and saw my sister there too! Thankfully Brenda was very understanding about it.
My whole week was a little different. I went with Dr. Liz on vet check on Monday and then worked on misters and soakers that afternoon. I don’t remember what I did on Tuesday for the life of me. Wednesday morning I put out fly bait, helped vaccinate cows, dried cows, went to a Jerseyland Sires meeting, had an exit interview at Hilmar Cheese with their HR Department. Wednesday night I worked late with Brett getting things ready for Thursday which meant we had to move cows around and get lists ready for vaccinations. I warned my dad that I’d be working late but after work I called Brenda and we took my dad and my sister to our taco truck. They were very impressed with it. Who would’ve thought that such good food could come out of a converted RV! Thursday morning I got to start the guys in the morning because Brett was gone and I spent the day with Danny over at Clauss while my dad and sister drove out to Yosemite National Park. I ended my day back at Yosemite entering sheets. That’s when the good-byes started. Steve was going on vacation so he wouldn’t be around on Friday. Going to work Friday was kinda depressing because I knew it would be my last day. Brett started the guys and then we went to check feed around the dairy. After checking feed and entering the changes we went to walk the pens before a nutrition meeting and the weekly meeting that Clauss, Yosemite, and Sunwest have. After the meetings we all headed to La Morenita for lunch. We picked up my sister and my dad met us there and we all had a great time. After lunch I got a few hours off to start cleaning out my work vehicle and my apartment and then Brett told me to come back to work at 3:30 so that I could enter sheets. I figured there would probably be an exit interview/review during that time but when I pulled up to the barn I saw Brett’s truck, C.A.’s truck, Kirsten’s car, and the whole row of parking was full. I went to Brett’s office and started talking with Kirsten and C.A. while Brett went to take a phone call. Well, there was no work for me to do…. They had a going away party planned for me! They even stopped milking for it. They gave me a Yosemite Jersey Dairy Carhart jacket and some things from Hilmar Cheese. Antonio gave me a pen so that I would remember the feed area and that I need to be as sharp as a pencil. I got pictures with almost everyone that I’d worked with this summer and we had cupcakes and milk and then I had an exit interview with Brett and C.A. It was a fun/sad afternoon. Saturday morning came around and I went to say goodbye to a few more people before we left for home.
We made it to Salt Lake City on Saturday and as I’m writing this blog we are driving though Utah or Wyoming (though I won't post it until I get home). I’m not really sure where we are. I’m finally accepting the fact that I’m leaving California. My dad made a good point earlier while we were talking. He told me that it’s probably better that I’m leaving while I still love it rather than leaving something I didn't like because then I’m all the more likely to go back and visit.
Goodbye for now, California. I hope to see you again soon.
