Getting Real With Danica Sorber

I was born and raised in Sacramento, California. Not only is Sacramento the state capital of California; it is also home to millions of people, all spread out over several miles of river soggy land.

I lived in apartment complexes that were basically boxes of sardine cans stacked on top of each other, and I was serenaded to sleep each night with the noisy and non-stop trumpeting and guitar strumming of mariachi music. I was so used to loud noises, cramped quarters (I lived with 3 other people and several cats in less than 700 sqft), traffic, fast food in walking distance, pizza delivery, bus stops, light rail, school only a mile away, and all my friends in the same apartment complex that it became quite the shock when I moved east for school and landed smack in the middle of rural Pennsylvania!

After graduating from high school, someone very dear to my heart offered to pay for college. I accepted. Two years later, I was attending a college in Clarks Summit, Pa. Clarks Summit is only a hop, skip, and jump from Scranton (made popular by “The Office”), and a few hours drive from Philadelphia. Clarks Summit is not what you’d call a metropolitan area, but it has many businesses, homes, schools, churches, etc…that living there was comfortably comparable to my old home in SacTown (without the loud mariachi music, busses, or light rail).

Now, I sacrificed the big city busy, for the mid-sized town, but that’s not when the real poop hit the fan…that came 2 years later when I got married.

In 2004, I married my husband and we immediately got pregnant (what’s this ‘we’ stuff?) with my daughter. In 2005, we were able to get a personal loan to purchase a mobile home, which was to be our starter home. Five years and two children later, we are cramped into this 1000sqft trailer, with its tiny bedrooms and even tinier living space (isn’t all living space tiny with the toys and possessions of three small children?).

Finally, we decided to actually bite the bullet and purchase a home. After several months of anguish and pity parties (long story), we closed on our new home in rural Factoryville, Pennsylvania…oh my.

Sure, the home is 3000sqft of wonderful space, but the location is less than what I’d dreamed of my dream home. Yes, having over an acre of land is a bonus- the kids can run and play without running me over, but the indigenous creatures are mind bogglingly yucky.

TICKS! REALLY?! I know that they are everywhere, but I never had to pick them off of my own children before! Oh how I miss city living where the only pests you have to worry about are making the big bucks in politics!

Not only am I dealing with TICKS, but ever since we got a dog (more space should equal new family pet, right?), I am dodging steaming landmines while chasing my kids down in the front yard to divest them of their tiny parasites!!

Oh, my, WORD!

TICKS and DOG POOP! REALLY?! I want my false sense of security back!

Oh, well. That’s the sacrifice I made for my family because I love them, and want a better future for them. This city girl will just have to learn quirky tips for tick removal, and get really good at the dog poop avoidance maneuver.