Exactly one year ago my dh and I were preparing ourselves, our children, our families and our house as we were moving away for the first time. We were very excited about this new adventure. The house was painted, cleaned, belongings packed up and the for sale sign went in the yard. We had brought two babies home to that house, one older sister with a joy for the yard and the trees. We'd grown together in that house, through many trials. Miscarrage, an accident, a tornado.
More good though, parties, families, friends, Bible studies, scrapbooking, teaching classes, writing, singing, guitars.... in that house.
Five months later we decided to go ahead with our move, even though the house had not yet sold. My dh had already moved 200 miles north to this new job, he was living in a hotel room and was lonely. We have been together nearly 20 years and I was certainly missing my life partner. So we moved, and our house sold two months later.
We embraced the "big city life"! The children and I quickly made friends, found our space in this new adventure. We were constantly on the go discovering new places to play, learn, teach, grow...
Then this small word, change, announced itself. Maybe you embrace change, maybe you are afraid of change, for us it was unexpected.
Dh's job changed again and we found ourselves looking at houses back in a town right next to the one we had left only six months before.
The town in which both of our families lived.
The house in the big city with the for sale sign in its yard. That seemed so wrong. It remains empty, a lone sign in the front yard, begging a family with children to step inside. Neighbors wondering what happened. Friends left behind.
Dh's job changed so quickly, we were gone within a matter of weeks this time.
On to the new house with the fabulous back door, thrilled to have children running down its hall, thrilled to have friends and family coming through its door in a constant stream. It is a bungalow, near a university. The house is nearly 70 years old, but it is patient, and happy.
I am learning to appreciate it daily.