The Moving Post

I have tried to write this blog post many times. By tried, I mean to say that I thought about writing, looked at the computer, then busied myself with the one thousand other things on my mind (or hip). We are two days away from this monumental event in our lives- moving across the country with two kids to raise our family in a smaller town and have a better quality of life- and I've got nothing to say on the matter! Inspiration will come later, I have thought, once this to-do list is complete. Or, I'll sit down and find meaning when the kids are asleep. This, from the person who started writing a blog for the mere fact that I had managed to wear pants that day. What's going on?!

The truth is, I am silenced by my thrill to be leaving, and dampened by the heartache in saying goodbye. 

We were newlyweds with a new baby when we arrived- married for just over a year and keeping watch over a crawling eight-month-old (and a hobbling seventeen-year-old fur baby). Two-and-half years have gone by. In that time we said goodbye to our dog. Nug learned to walk and she learned to talk. She met friends and she met the snow. Our house was ripped apart during a six-month remodel. I began a job, then left it a year later. I learned to cook (still in progress!), and lost Nug's baby weight just before getting pregnant again. W faithfully commuted each day, then spent the weekends fixing the house, searching out the poison ivy in our yard, or soaking in the hot tub. We were tourists and we were homebodies. We accepted and began to embrace life in this town. With the help of eight new best friends, I finally found my footing as a mother. One cold February night, we brought Cookie into the world.

Life ended, life began, and life marched on. Scripting a farewell to it is not easy. 

What I can write about is watching the little green figs on our tree grow big and round, knowing they will be ready when we are gone. I can write about placing heated bets in the Costco aisle on whether we will use an entire bag of toilet paper in the two months before we leave (I bet yes. I lost, but not by much!). I can write about the library book that has been- and will be- missing for months. I can say goodbye to mosquitos, stink bugs, and sprickets (and, sadly, the magical fireflies). I can tell you that the last two cans of black-eyed peas were made into a faux oatmeal cookie pie. I can write about tossing our outgrown baby gear and celebrating the irrelevance of snow gear. I can tell you about leaving the hip storytime librarian who calls Old McDonald a "she" and our neighborhood Spanish immersion public elementary school. I can say I'll miss the occasional deer sighting in our backyard, the downtown splash fountain, and our waitress at the local diner. 

But there is more that I can't bring myself to write about. I can't write about the final hug between Nug and her best friend. I can't write about the sticky, humid, sweet summer heat and the rush of its sudden rainstorms. I can't write about our old wood floors, creaking in the middle of the night as I check on the baby. I can't write about a friend's goodbye squeeze and the kind words whispered in my ear. I can't talk about our backyard, lush with green in all directions and filled with the memory of play dates. I can't write about dinners with neighbors, playground meet-ups with friends, or the weekly walk to Kindermusik class. I can't tell you about the tree swing or our wraparound front porch. And I definitely can't talk about the corner of the kitchen from where I can see the front and back doors and everything in between. That's too hard to do. 

The rest will just be said in pictures.

October 2011: Moving here with a hands-on eight-month-old was... entertaining!

May 2012: kitchen addition/remodel

November 2011: Our original kitchen

July 2014: Mornings with two

Dec 2011: things freeze here, like strollers!

June 2014: Backyard bliss

May 2013: Best friends (at the stables)

March 2013: Music class & play ground

November 2013: Swings, rings, and lots of space in our yard

July 2014: Mama's home from work!

July 2013: East coast beaches are the best

October 2011: Baby-proofing the kitchen in our temporary apartment

January 2014: Snow, snow, and more snow