So we are moving yet again. This time it's just a few buildings down the road in our apartment complex. Sitting here in our almost empty apartment has got me thinking. Pretty much all that we have left is our furniture, a few dishes, and a blanket or two. The apartment has echos again and somehow it already doesn't feel like home. I counted today and the next place will be #9 in our 6 years of marriage. Which means we have made 10 moves, and so many friends. There have been 9 places that we have made feel like our home. Each place has been unique and totally unlike the ones before it(except for Wymount because we lived there two different times). Our family has grown, our possessions have decreased...this statement might just be wishful thinking. Our moving techniques are streamlined and fine-tuned.
Why then does this make me so thoughtful each time I do it? I have to admit that in the past we have always changed at least our ward, if not the city we lived in and twice now the state we lived in. It never gets easier. Leaving a place where you have felt loved and safe is always hard. I guess that's why even this time I am a little hesitant to return the keys. The memories are just that, and they will keep getting farther and farther back behind me. I will never live in this place again. I know this is all rather silly, because really we are just moving down the street. No change of zip code, we don't even have to change our phone number. People who drive to our house will come the same way they have always come with a slight change at the very end of the journey. It's that last slight right that makes all the difference I guess. New neighbors, new parking spot, new post box, what else will be new? What lessons will I learn, or relearn there? How will I have to change?
Heavy stuff I know. But since it's after 10pm and Steven is making one last trip to our new place to take stuff before tomorrow and I can't go to bed until he gets back you all get to profit from my musings. So a few more of my questions are; will I ever get to stay in one place for more than 16 months? Is there something I am supposed to learn and haven't yet? Does it ever get easy? (By this I don't mean the actual act of moving, because packing everything you own into boxes will never be fun or easy.) Will we ever get to choose our own couch? I threw that one in because we really have never chosen our couch, they have always chosen us, through the generosity of others, and while I am grateful, someday I would like to chose my own. So there you have it. All my unorganized thoughts that have been running in and out of my head while our house has been slowly emptying out for the past few days.
BTW since we have moved a lot we have lots of friends out there, so don't make yourselves strangers. Any time you need a vacation, Nashville is pretty fun. YEEHAW!
7 comments:
Good luck with getting your new place put together Megan. I can relate to this post because I remember going through much of the same feelings as a kid when my dad worked for the government. We moved every couple of years all around the country. I often felt the same way when I had to leave my school and friends. But I think I also gained something new from each new place I lived--and I realized that there are some things that never change no matter where you live.
Well I'm glad that you're not moving out of the state this time! I just met ya and I'm glad that we'll hopefully get to be better friends before you move on again (or we do). Anyway, love the blog and this post makes me feel very nostalgic too, thinking about the moves we've made and friends left behind. The one here to Nashville has been by far the hardest I've had to make, but I have that tingling feeling inside that it will be just as hard to leave here and that we've got many important things to learn before we do! Thanks for sharing your musings!
I'm coming to visit! Yay!
I HATE moving, too. This last move was our seventh, so not quite as bad as yours. Hopefully your eleventh move will be to live by us!! love ya.
p.s. post pics of the new place:)
moving sure is a bugger. when jonathan and i moved to miami from nashville i thought that that was the end of me. i was excited to move into a new apartment, but now that we are here i miss bellevue dearly. Come back to me Bellevue, come back!
I'm totally out of the loop here, why couldn't you stay in your same apartment? couldn't you just resign the lease with the same place? I'm assuming that this is a really dumb question? I feel for ya girl! You just moved there! Yet, it feels as if you just moved to Indiana and then BAM you're gone. I'll give you this much. You may learn something at each place you go, but from someone who's been left behind in your path--you certainly do leave a legacy. I mean that in a positive way. you really touch so many people megan. --sarah
As someone who has moved a ton, I really appreciated your thoughts. All so true. Especially the part about choosing your own couch ;)
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