Countdown to move: 1 day
It’s been four-and-a-half years since I drove across the country with everything I owned packed into my bright blue Saturn Ion. I had no job, no friends, and few connections in the D.C. area.
Within a month, I had all three.
Since then, this has become my home. It’s where most of my friends are, it’s where I met my husband, and it’s where I found the church community that has seen me through the ups and downs of a key phase of my life.
It's weird to think I'll start from scratch once again.
After an insanely efficient packout last Wednesday—in five hours, four men packed our entire house and loaded it into three different shipments (storage, air, and sea)—Joe and I have spent as much quality time with people we love as possible. There were lunches, dinners, coffee dates, home-cooked meals (thanks, Makis!), and a goodbye party with several of our dear friends.
It will be sad not to be close enough to pop over to the Jacobys’ house or join Jamie at the latest D.C. foodie event or lose to Kate at Tara’s poker nights. I’ll miss seeing my church small group every Thursday night, too.
I also had to say goodbye to my little bright blue car, the one I got right after returning from a year in Malawi. The car that was my one companion on the long road from California to Washington, D.C.
(<--Loaded up and ready to drive cross-country in 2007)When we sold it, Joe told me, "Say goodbye to your youth and freedom!"
I realized he was right. I've grown up a lot since I got that little car seven years ago, but now that I'm selling it, I truly am at the tail end of my young adulthood. Ahead in 2012: motherhood and turning 30.
Goodbye, youth and freedom.
But over the next two years, Joe and I will explore new places (like the gorgeous Jeju Island), learn new things (Korean language, for starters), make new friends, build new church community, and—best of all—welcome a new person into our family.
Every new beginning requires goodbyes, and I know a full life waits on the other end of tomorrow’s 14-hour flight.
Remember the night before that pic was taken when you told that guy you were living out of your car ?
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget your 6+ month stop in Kansas =) that was fun times ...
ReplyDeleteHa--Dean, I don't really remember that, but it sounds like something I would say... And Brandy, how could I ever forget my stint as the troll under your stairs?? :)
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