Un-Packing

Dave, you ask, why is it that you haven’t posted anything for nearly a week?

You weren’t asking that? Oh, well…just pretend that you were for a moment and I’ll humor you with a response.

You see, we’ve been moving.

Again.

I wrote more than one post about the apartment in which we lived for several years in Virginia. I still miss it, actually, because so many huge events in our lives occurred there, not the least of which was the fact that it was where we brought our daughter home to after she was born. I’ve never experienced an emotional problem moving from one apartment to the next in my life, but that particular time I did. We packed our lives in a truck and off to New England we drove, where I have since gone to school for a quick certification and changed careers. That was the first time we had moved in at least four years. That was one year ago.

In that year, we’ve moved two more times. Three moves in one year, one of which was a state-to-state move. First we lived with some family (there comes an age in one’s life beyond which you shouldn’t try that…), then a tiny little apartment reminiscent of our first apartment together that barely fit our basic necessities, and now, finally, into a nice, full-sized place again. I feel as though I can breathe for the first time in a year.

I also feel more than a bit discombobulated.

I’ve always believed that where you are is more that just where you are. Where you live molds some part of who you are, and certainly has had it’s role in molding who Karen and I are as a couple, and now as a family of three. We’re choosy about where we live (which is part of what made the last year so stressful, because being a full-time student drastically limits your ability to be choosy), and choosing to conform our lives to environments that were inhibiting to that negatively impacted us emotionally and spiritually. Such is the sacrifice of going to school, but I hadn’t anticipated that it would be nearly as difficult as it was with a family.

This week, however, though completely exhausted, I’m feeling, for the first time in a year, a sense of normalcy in our lives. As more of our furniture arrives from storage and we can place more and more books back onto shelves and art back onto walls, I begin to feel like Karen and I are regaining a huge part of us to which we haven’t had easy access for a long time. Again, it was a sacrifice, and one that has ultimately paid off, as education always does. I’m just very glad that it’s over.

I’m also very glad that I have hauled my last heavy load upstairs for at least a few days.

And, as the dust settles and my back-aches go away, I’ll be writing more regularly here soon.