Thursday, August 1, 2013

Some Thoughts About Moving

In case you don't actually know me in real life, or you do, but you've been living under a rock, we are moving to Florida in the very near future.  It's been pretty much consuming our lives since we found out.  Getting our house ready for the market.  Putting it on the market.  Having a million showings.  Living like we are in a museum so we don't mess the house up for showings.  Looking online at housing in Florida. Getting plane tickets to go look for housing.  Trying to figure out why no one wants to buy our house.  These are the things that have been on my mind for the past few weeks.  It is extremely exhausting mentally and physically.  I can't tell you the number of times I have vacuumed my entire house in about 30 minutes time to get ready for a showing.  It's a workout!  I've found that lots of people are wondering about our moving process and are often asking me how it's going and worrying about 'what ifs' for us.  Here are my thoughts...

We are super excited.  All of us are.  We talk about it on a daily basis and muse about how when we are in Florida we will be doing this or that (mostly going to the beach).  We dream about what our next home will look like.  We discuss the good food we'll eat and the fruit trees that will be in our yard (we hope) and the trees the kids will climb.  We imagine the parks we will visit and the friends we will make.  It's a time for dreaming and hoping and anticipation.  And aren't those the best times?  I think they are.

The flip side of our excitement is our sorrow in leaving.  We talk in terms of what we will miss.  The people we won't see on a daily basis but who we hope will come and visit.  The friends and family who love us so much and we are so comfortable with.  The places we go that are so familiar and make this place we live feel like home.  The library, the parks, the friends houses, the amusement park.  We will miss it all.  I often ponder what I think I might miss and am interested to see what I will actually miss when I'm not here.  I will definitely miss Fall.  I don't think I will miss Winter, but I might (although we will come home for Christmas and get a dose of it).  I might miss Spring, but I doubt it since it mostly just rains here.  I know we will miss our church.  I hope and pray that we find a place in Florida to worship and serve that feels as much like home as our current place does, but with the memories and friendships here spanning decades I just don't know if any other place can compete.  But with all the missing things that I worry about, I have to just not let it get me down.  I choose to dwell on the excitement and anticipation, because really the alternative is rather depressing.

I think that this move is something that will shape us though.  It will be the biggest adventure I've embarked on in my life besides becoming a parent.  It's something we are doing as a family and I hope it brings us closer.  I love doing new things and exploring new places and so this move just makes me so happy.  I'm happy that my husband will be working for a company he likes with people he likes.  I'm happy that I will be so close to the beach where I feel most at peace.  I'm happy that I have already made friends with people I haven't seen in years and haven't even met in person yet that will be minutes away from us when we move.  I'm happy that we're living a dream of mine...no regrets.

We might hate it.  We might never fit in there.  We might long to be back with our family.  We might even move home.  It's all a big question mark at this point.  But isn't that the point of life?  I'm not one to live with my life planned out for the next 20 or 30 years.  Because I've learned that my plans don't usually pan out anyway.  God has better plans and I'm along for the ride.  I can't wait.

I've been looking through our Florida pictures from our last vacation in May and they bring a smile to my face.  They comfort me when I am feeling unsure about our move.  I just have to look at them and remember that the beach is my most favorite place in the world.  And my family loves it just as much as I do.

I adore this picture of my boy!  You can see his cowlick in his hair and I just love his little freckles.

Waving hi.

I love how I caught this bird even though he's out of focus.  
 The in-focus version.  I can't decide which one I like best.
 He makes this face a lot.  I think it's meant to be tough.

Following his dad around.  I find it funny how often I have photos of them making the same facial expressions.



I can't wait to go swimming in the ocean again with my kids.  They love it so much.

One of my favorite beach photos ever.  I can feel the joy in this.


This cracks me up and it totally reminds me of the way one of our friends dances.  Literally...a grown man dances like this.  Bonus points if you can name him!

The eyelashes...the freckles...enough said.

Guess I'll have to share some photos of my girl next time!  Thanks for reading!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...