Life is Not About Finding Yourself!

Have you ever moved?  Packed your stuff in boxes, loaded them on a truck, prayed they arrived at your new address intact and rediscovered yourself in the process?  In the words of Mercer Mayer, "Me too!"  Come the winter, we will be following the process as a family for the sixth time in 14 years.  This next home has the potential to be our address for the next eight years and, though I am excited about that, I have no idea what it feels like to live within the same walls for more than three.  In the words of my daughter, "Wait... What?"

I have formulated my own very simple opinion about moving.  Everyone should pretend they are moving every six months or so.  (Ask any military spouse and they will agree whole heartedly.)  Sorting through closets, clearing out the attic spaces, shifting things around the garage and rearranging furniture not only helps pull the weeds, but renews the sense of 'home'.  My mother was always rearranging furniture; I think it was so she could vacuum new pieces of the carpet, but the house always felt 'better' after a good going through~

And then there is the internal furniture.  I remember a conversation with a dear friend of mine after she moved to a new state with her nearly new husband.  At that time I had moved 4 states and had some experience with the invisibility of it all.  She had expressed how she was having a tough time finding a place to belong to which I said, "The beauty of it is, moving allows you to not only let go of the furniture you dislike, it allows you to cast off the pieces of yourself you dislike living with. You have the chance to invent who you wish to be which will lead you to the places you belong."  George Bernard Shaw's more concise version wraps it up nicely, "Life is not about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."

After we hear from the Realtor, I may be sooner to a road-trip to Virginia than later.  My husband can't go so soon, but I am hopefully going to have a few days of house-hunting to see where our furniture might fit.  My kids are saying "Me too?" and I am saying "Wait... What?" but even though it's a little scrambled and unfair, the excitement is intoxicating.  We all have a new sense of direction.  We have all been given the chance to recreate our purpose.  We all have the opportunity to pull the weeds.  And, as soon as we settle on a house, we'll have the chance to rearrange the furniture.

Before the trip, real food, lots of water, vitamins for my vitamins, and as always, clean hands - especially after the rest stops.

Anna~