Who would ever think that between the lines of a local paper’s nannying ad they would find two daughters, a husband and a home in New York? Not to mention an overweight not-so-mini dachshund? 

Not my mom, that’s for sure. 

Born and raised in New England, my mom decided at 19 that it was time for her to leave. She wouldn’t follow in the path of her three older brothers and attend the University of New Hampshire and later join the army. She would leave Portsmouth for something bigger with more opportunities. 

What better place to do so than New York? People from all over the world come to the Empire State to accomplish dreams and find new ones. 

She saw an ad in the paper for a nannying gig in a town called Chappaqua. She figured she could do that while paying for school herself,  getting her social work degree, all the while starting a new life. 

She read between the lines of the black and white page and saw a future. 

It’s crazy for me to think that if my mom hadn’t seen that ad in the paper, she never would have come to Chappaqua. She never would have met my dad at Quaker Hill and they never would have gotten married at The Kittle House. She never would have had me or my sister. 

I’m here because of a newspaper. Ironically enough, one day I want my name to be in one, above an article I wrote, not invisible between the lines of an ad and in the eyes of my mom. 

I can’t help but think, what’s the one thing that I will act upon that will truly change my life forever? 

Will it be my move to Boston this year, and starting over? Or will it be after college behind an amazing job opportunity? Will it be presented to me clearly or will I have to look for it? 

I’ve always been someone who likes to plan my life. I don’t like surprises and I like to know what’s coming. I’m that person who has to look up the plot to a scary movie on Wikipedia before watching it so I know what to expect and when to leave the room. I know. I’m the worst. 

So what if my life-changing moment or act is something that I don’t expect? What if it’s already happened and I haven’t even recognized it? 

Sometimes you have to leave home to realize what it did for you and how great it was. We go back to where my mom grew up every summer and it’s my favorite place to go. 

My mom had no clue what New York had in store for her. She had no clue how much those two kids she nannied needed her and in turn how much her own kids would soon need them. She had no clue that getting her degree would lead her to the job she’s had for more than 20 years. 

I can almost guarantee that growing up, my mom’s dream was not to move to Chappaqua. She probably had never even heard of it. But that nannying ad in the local paper took her there, and it took her to me. 

Maybe I should start reading the paper more. 

My mom left the place she was comfortable with when she was 19 for something so unfamiliar. I find myself in the same position as her at 19, leaving what I once thought was a comfortable place for a brand new one in an entirely different state. 

Who knows, maybe Boston will be my new home.