As promised, I bring you Carrick's birth story...

In 2006, my husband finished his collegiate training in the area of Philosophy with minors in Religious Studies and Spanish. He held a bachelor's degree in laying down arguments and how to organize thought. He was well equipped to become either a lawyer or a philosophy professor, which are the two areas that most philosophy graduates study after college. He took the LSATs and recieved decent enough scores to get into a few law schools with tuition paid. I on the other hand was not up for the challenge of being the wife of a law student, so his idea was shelved. He then turned to taking the Naval Officer's test. He passed with exceptional scores, but was informed in an interview that he could not join any military branch of the United States because of his psoriasis. (While psoriasis is not contagious, it does make the inflicted a possible carrier of the smallpox virus after regulatory immunizations are administered.) So that put an end to his seafaring dream. He was still caught in a whirlwind of "what to do" after graduating college.

So, he and I continued our jobs at the local fuel hauling business where we found ourselves employed at the time. After a semester's worth of searching, he found himself as a student again in the field of computer sciences. It was laughable. My husband's staggering intellect at work on computer homework. I did not really like the annoying person he became during this January to May venture either, (and he didn't feel it was for him) so he left the field after only one semester.

The important thing that did materialize from this foray into the upper levels of collegiate education was his desire to tap into the student services offered (for free) during his semester's enrollment. He participated regularly in intramural sporting events at the student recreation center and found himself a nice "shrink" to talk to about the trials of married student life. His counselor was a great guy who listened to what Corey had to say. He also shared his own journey to become a student counselor. Part of his journey included training in massage therapy. A light was lit in Corey's mind...

One year earlier, Corey had looked into the possibility of attending massage therapy school. His dreams were quickly melted as he found out that the school he had fallen in love with was six states away in Arizona. We were not financially able to drop our entire lives and move out to Arizona for a six month program. But after hearing about his counselor's life journey, he decided, "It has to be now and it has to be that school." So, the decision had been made. Corey was going to attend massage school in the fall...in Arizona.

The summer came and went. Corey spent his hours freelancing with his hands. Anyone who would hire him to mow a yard, trim a tree with a chainsaw or put up a fence in a cow pasture found that his hard work was well worth the money. I quit my job at the fuel hauling company as well and worked in a group home for the summer. August arrived and we made our plans for our transference out to the wild west. Corey and I would road trip out there before his school began. I would get to check the place out, see if I wanted to move out there too, then come back to Illinois for a month. During the month away, he would have time to start school, make sure it was for him, find a place to live and a job. After those three items were checked off his list, I would join him in Arizona.

Road trip number one was one of the most memorable times in our marriage. We cruised down Rte. 66 (I-40), fulfilling a lifelong dream of mine. We were crammed in a 1996 black Ford Ranger, two-seater, with a stick shift and no cruise control. It was doubly memorable leaving Illinois on my father's 53rd birthday, during the hottest day in August with no air conditioning in the cab. We had purchased a topper for the back of the truck from a farmer before we left. Paying the man $25, we pulled it out of his field and erected it on the back of the truck bed. Beneath the inexpensive topper lie all the contents of our home we could fit in it, including a four-piece place setting of Corey's grandmother's china that I couldn't possibly live without.

As the scenery gave way mile after mile to more grandiose and breathtaking vistas, I felt myself being enchanted by the southwest. Until, on the third day of travel, we found ourselves broken down one mile from the Arizona state line, changing a flat tire. Cars whizzed by at 80+ mph as Corey lay on the asphalt jacking up the truck. I had set up a makeshift warning of suitcases so that the oncoming traffic wouldn't pulverize my husband. I was scared to pieces.

Four very tired hours later we were dropping down into Oak Creek Canyon, the home stretch of our 1000+ mile cross-country trek. If I thought the vistas were breathtaking before, none of them could even hold a candle to what lay before us. Twelve miles of Ponderosa Pine trees covering a massive crack in the earth known as Oak Creek Canyon. The back of our truck was rattling at this point and we were caught in the drizzly beginnings of a desert rain storm. We descended into the canyon on a series of switchbacks, truck creaking ominously with every bend in the road, threatening to give way at any moment. Cars were piled up behind us, honking impatiently, as we slowly made our way down the hairpin turns at 7% grade, plunging 1000 feet in a matter of miles.

The switchbacks ended after what seemed like forever and the gently curving road of the canyon trailed us along, presenting the most stunning views I have ever beheld. As the canyon opened up, we saw for the first time the place we would eventually call home, Sedona. After we finally reached our destination of the massage school, some 20 miles southwest of Sedona, I said to Corey, "This is where I want to start our family, here, in Arizona."

And so it was to be, quicker that I had imagined. However, parenthood was not to be mine without a little bit of soul transformation. Next time: Massage school, Pregnancy massage certification, and a life-changing dream are all part and parcel of my son entering this world.