In the next couple of months, my family and I will enter another stage in our life. My husband will be starting his career upon graduation and this transition will bring many more. The most profound is that we are anticipating moving to another town 3 hours away. Although, we have no personal connections to the town we are in now, I feel as if there is an impending loss ahead of us. I told my mom the other day that it feels as if we are upon the verge of a death. I can't quite put my finger on what I mean by this and I hate to compare a move to a death but I am because that is how I feel. I keep questioning myself why I feel like this, am I thinking this is death/an ending to a stage in our life that we will never get back? Am I just sad that we have accomplished what seemed like a monumental goal? I just don't know why but the more I think about it the sadder I get.
My husband and I moved to our current location four years ago. We had been married about two years and I was still on that honeymoon high. I thought with my husband by my side we could conquer the world. I was about 10 weeks pregnant with our first child. My husband was enrolled in a doctoral program. I worked a low paying full time job that we had no idea how we would support ourselves let alone an additional family member. But we had love, we had each other, and we had all the vast opportunities that a new town would bring.
On the other side of things, I thought when we moved here I would never get used to living so far from family and we would be making a four hour road trip every other weekend to see them. I thought I would never be able to go anywhere without the GPS in the car. It literally took me a year to feel comfortable enough to leave the GPS home to make a simple trip the grocery and back to my house. It may have took us four years but I now know what local restaurants we like, I know what parks we like, I know our favorites summer, fall, winter, and spring activities, and on top on my list is that I know how to make it to my house at the end of the day using back roads and no GPS! I even recognize a few familiar faces when I am out running errands. I am now familiar with this area. I am comfortable.
Maybe that's it, moving means I have to find "comfortable" again. My husband and I have had several talks about this new town and I firmly believe in my head of the household man's direction in this decision. Through talking to several people we have found out that this new area is ideal for raising a family, growing, vibrant, and a bonus to us is that is closer to our families, making visits easier and hopefully more often. So we have been praying that the move will provide opportunities, ways to meet new people, make new goals, and grow. Just like the move before has. As silly as this is, when we moved to where we are now, I saw a sign on a church billboard that said, “Where God leads, He provides.” It is true. It has been true. And it will be true.
So who has some boxes and is willing to help us pack up and move to the next stage in our life?
