#3: Moving Lessons

We moved from my childhood home the summer after my 3rd grade year.  It was like leaving a good friend, and standing out in a field with wild animals.  You know no one, you are completely uncomfortable, AND you don't feel safe....

Looking back now, I realize that the wild animal eyes I saw were all small harmless critters (like turtles and chipmunks) and there was nothing but adventure to be had in the field.  Perhaps the greatest lesson learned is that old is never lost, new is opportunity, and home is where you plant it.  However, there were many more...

  • In life there are people who love you, and never say it.  Sometimes separation makes the love finally spills out, but sometimes it remains silently held and cherished forever.  Never shared, but never forgotten.  Trust that you are loved in secret.
  • Never be afraid to share your appreciation of someone.  It might seem small to you, but for them it may mean the world.  
  • Stuffed animals are gifts of love.  This is especially true when they are given by a good friend.  This is doubly true when they are handmade by the friend's grandmother.  This is triple truth when the animal smells like smoke, but you love it more than anything else because it is from someone who you love.  Gifts mean the most when you love the gift giver.
  • It's okay to mourn the loss of objects, places, and the past.  When we say good-bye to something it might be forever.  That is sad.  It is also beautiful to remember that we can't experience loss without first experiencing something worth keeping.  Remember the past you loved with joy that it was part of your journey.
  • New schools are like showers.  They warm up eventually, but until they do existence is COLD.  In small towns the water might take longer to warm up.
  • Memories of what was are sometimes more exaggerated than reality.  In my memory I remember my childhood home was large, the fence giant and the stone bench huge.  I just drove by this house this week.  Everything is smaller than my memory reminds me.  Either things get blown up inside of ourselves, or our perspective changes as we get taller and older....or both :)
  • Moving from a house into a double wide mobile home means that all your things will live under a tent in the yard for a while.  Piles of boxes are a labyrinth of excitement!  Change takes time to settle.
  • Although moving away from all you know seems like the end of the world, it isn't.  Moving is simply the opening of a new door in the same world!  Explore!

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