This might be one of the more un-original titles I’ve ever used, but I thought it should be said… moving is hard. It’s hard on the people leaving and it’s hard on those left behind. We’ve done this a few times in our married life, but this time seemed especially poignant in that we had lived in RVA for 13 years – almost four times longer than we’d lived anywhere else. It’s getting easier (although it will seem far more permanent once the house sells in VA) but there are definitely challenges at each turn of the calendar.
We first moved into temporary housing. This was an interesting transition because of it’s very nature… it was temporary. We knew we weren’t going to purchase a home near that residence, so learning the area was helpful but a bit of an effort in futility. Why spend the time getting to know people when our lives most likely wouldn’t intersect in any reasonable or foreseeable fashion after we found the home we wanted to purchase? The apartment we were assigned was in a nice area, but not as easy to navigate (see my previous post entitled My Little Red Wagon) but we made the best of the entire situation. My 50th birthday came and went… Easter wasn’t celebrated the same… my summer didn’t focus on getting kids to and from activities. Life was changing and I needed to change with it… and so I did.
Once we found the home we wanted to purchase, my focus became a little simpler. My goal now was to find businesses in the new area where I might find things like doctors, hair stylists, shopping, and other amenities that would make our transition successful. I found a nail salon where I felt comfortable… M helped me find someone to cut my hair (which was getting unruly after 17 weeks)… I had my first eye doctor appointment… and I found a part-time job at a local winery. All these things helped make our move flow a bit smoother, but the most challenging part is finding friends.
After living in one place for much of my boys’ childhood, I had collected an amazing assortment of people in my life. There were some who could meet me for lunch, some who could be counted on to help with car pool or share frustrations with kids’ activities, some who knew me from my job at the local winery, some who knew me from church, and still others who simply knew me as someone they saw around town. No matter where I had found these people, each one held a special place in my heart and in my life. Thinking about it now, I realize that one of the most important things about these people is that I never, ever, felt alone. I knew, with confidence, that I had people who lived nearby who would be present for me if I needed something. That something could be as easy as a smile from the check-out clerk at the local grocery store or as involved as a shoulder to help work through a difficult situation…either way, I had created my very own village within the world around me. I believe that has been the hardest part of moving… I had to leave my village behind.
Don’t get me wrong… I am very happy with our move. We have found a place in a small town that is becoming more and more wonderfully familiar as I go about my daily life. I adore my job at the winery and thoroughly enjoy getting to know our neighbors. I am starting to create my new village, but it’s going to take some time. I don’t have any history with people here, so it will be a process of letting people in and learning who to trust. Making friends will be more of a challenge without the immediate connection of children and their activities, but I have faith that we will come to love this new life of ours.
In the meantime, you can find us at our new address in Forest Hill, Maryland. You can reach me on most any Social Media outlet (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest – most under AliSportShots) or you can follow my wine recipe blog on Facebook (From the Bottom of a Wine Bottle). I may have moved, but I’ve not gone away.
Moving may be hard, but it would be harder if I wasn’t able to keep in touch with friends. Thank you to all of you who have made an effort to keep in touch with me throughout this move. We kept our VA home and (my) cell numbers for that very reason… so people could find us.
Thanks so much for reminding me that friendship doesn’t revolve solely around who lives closest to us… it revolves around who lives in our hearts. Moving is hard, but true friends make everything better…
Beatitudes of my life 