Lifeís Little Journeys
Laura Jacobsma

It was a beautiful autumn day. Laura had always loved the way the wind would rustle the colorful leaves, as if they were talking to her. She lay on her back with her eyes on the sky, calling out different kinds of animals as they passed in the clouds.

A shadow came into view and said, ìLaura, all of our lives are going to change drastically in this next week.î

Laura looked up and said, ìWhat are you talking about?î

Her mom sat down next to her and named one of her own cloud animals. Then she said, ìWe are going to move.î

Laura was very surprised by this announcement. She had been born and raised in Inwood, Iowa, a town of 500 people. She was in the middle of her 3^rd grade year at the local elementary Christian school. She absolutely loved everything about where she lived, her friends, and her extended family. What could her mom possibly be talking about?

In the next few hours the packing had begun, and the very next day all of the house stuff was tucked away in her aunt and uncleís semi-truck which he would drive. Her immediate family ñ two sisters, one brother, and mom ñ were all loaded in the green Cadillac. This promised to be one of the most exciting journeys yet.

As they started down the road, Laura discovered that they were moving to a place called Visalia, California, a town of 45,000 people. She was told that they would be living on the biggest farm she had ever seen. Her mom had actually called it a dairy. Dad was already there, working and waiting for the family to join him.

The first day foretold the whole trip. Everything was exciting and fun until they came to their first set of mountains. The climbs were too much for the old Cadillac. It would begin to overheat, so her mom would drive as fast as she could to get to the top. Then they would wait for her uncle to catch up with the truck. As they headed downhill, her mom would use the momentum to get up the next mountain. This happened again and again as they drove through the mountains.

Now sitting in the trunk of the car was a live-cultured cooking batter. This batter required being fed twice a day and then being burped. Everyone was so exhausted from the first dayís trials that they just went to bed. The next morning Laura walked the dog outside. She chose a path that went by the car and heard a strange gurgling. ìThatís a really weird sound,î she thought. She ran back to the motel room to inform her mother of this strangeness. ìMom!î she gasped. ìSomething is happening in the trunk of our car.î Her mother jumped out of bed and ran out of the room in her pajamas to open the trunk. Her mom carefully looked inside the trunk, and saw that the batter was spitting and growing bigger and bigger. Her mom yelled, ìQuick, get the flour or this batter is going to fill the whole car!î Laura ran to get the flour, but by the time she returned her mom had batter dripping from her bangs. Laura stood there aghast not knowing if she should cry or laugh. She saw her mom wipe the batter from her lips and saw her momís familiar smile come into view. Both of them stood looking at each other and the mess ñ laughing, while batter dripped everywhere. This incident set the tone for the whole second day.

The last day of the trip they had to cross the California border. As her family pulled up in the plant-filled Cadillac the border patrolman asked, ìDo you have any fruit?î Her mom said, ìNo.î So he waved them through. Her uncle was the very next vehicle. Laura saw the border patrolman peek his head into the cab of the truck. Laura was concerned because they had fruit in the cab, but the border patrolman asked, ìDo you have any plants?î Her uncle answered, ìNo.î As her uncle was waved through they all breathed a sigh of relief. Lauraís whole family thought this incident was peculiar because the questions were inconsistent and it seemed like the border patrol didnít really care about plants or fruits coming into California, but it was a great story to end their journey from Iowa to California.

Finally, their once in a lifetime journey brought them to their new home. Laura found that she could still hear the leaves rustling in the trees and name her animal clouds as they floated by. Her mom was right too ñ Laura had never seen a dairy farm as big as this one. Even though Laura had to leave many friends behind, she could see that she would have just as many adventures.