This not so little military family of 7 moved yet again and honestly I have lost count of how many moves this now makes in the last 19 years, over a dozen though! We moved from a small cute house in the city, one not safe, (given the break in when we first moved in there and things that followed) to a little brick cottage on a military post much further north than that Georgia city. The new place is about the same size so you would think it wouldn’t be a big deal only we had gone from a 4k square foot country home before that little city house and that had taken more than one trip in a 26 foot truck. With such a far move this time, we knew we had only one trip we could make.
For weeks we thinned our belongings. Our oldest daughter did a yard sale and learned a lot from the experience and she made some money on it as well. We gave things to Good Will too, we posted free items in the local groups, left things near the road that thankfully disappeared without incident. (though in that neighborhood if something wasn’t nailed down it seemed to grow legs anyway!) and we gave things away to those we knew and had helped. Sweet husband held my hand and pushed just a bit to down size where ever we could. He gave up electronics bins of odds and ends and things too! He loves having things to tinker with. With all these kids, I am sure he will have another bin full again soon!
Knowing a bit about the house we would move into it wasn’t too hard to guess what would fit and what wouldn’t. In the end, the truck doors closed and we felt such relief that what we wanted to move actually fit. I had doubted it would, but husband and my “better brother” believed it would, and they made it work! I thinned out over half my books and while it was hard (it was easier thanks to some country mice that ate through a few boxes the house before) it was worth it. My family is very much encouraging me to get more books on kiddle as they are weightless. LOL To be fair, I think husband had a few hundred pounds in programming books too!
Funny, we gave away our largest flat screen TV as it was the oldest only then accidentally break our living room TV in the move. Even with the fancy TV moving box, we managed to squish the screen. We didn’t take our washing machine as it wasn’t really getting water out of clothing causing them to be in the dryer 3 hours. We tossed our old sofa as the kids had well and truly loved it to pieces. So here we are in the new house, no living room tv and no sofa and having to go to the laundry mat. Just as soon as the military pays for the move though we will fix all that. For now though, it is rather comical.
To top things off, we still do not have home internet…. that is a long comcast story for another night however.
For now though I ramble here at 2am thinking of how this move went and how lucky we are. So many little things happened that made things just a tad harder but some things, the important things, went so well. We had family and friends there to support us and help us move and clean and give me hope everything would fit and get done and in so many tiny moments they made me smile when my heart was breaking with grief and worry and sorrow over leaving. Military life is always moving from loved ones, after a while though you end up moving towards them too having people you care about scattered to the winds. We got here and had friends waiting to help us unpack. It helped the heart. Another dear and old friend gets back from deployment soon and I can’t wait to hug her, and her darling demon cat! We are closer to family up north now too!
As we sorted through items and boxes we hadn’t even bothered to unpack in 4 years I was flooded with memories. Items that had little worth to the world but so much worth to me. I wasn’t ever attached to things so much (beyond books) and parted with things as needed for each move. Now though…. some small trinkets mean so much. I am learning that photos last longer than some items will. I need to archive photos that are special better. I spent many hours in tears over loved ones gone as the memories were overwhelming. I had packed them away so I could function and here they were…. I couldn’t ignore them. So I sorted through them. I am not sure if I am better or worse for it though now. I am still in survival mode with the new house still in chaos and boxes all over and the kids trying to find their new normal while not having the internet they depend on for school and their online gaming worlds. Then there is our oldest, a young adult who just moved away from her love…. she is heart sick and I can’t blame her for it. She is doing the best she can and every smile and laugh she shares with us is a gift as we know she is struggling hard just to function at all. I get that.
So while we down sized a lot for this house I am left remembering that life isn’t about the stuff but how those things make us feel and how they help us live the lives we choose to live. Things are changing here in little ways as everyone redefines who they want to be and what makes them feel more like themselves. I wonder what boxes I will choose to unpack and what ones I will store away. I have to function and not sure “ghosts” help me with that. I have to be present and here for the kids, not lost in emotion and grief because I saw something of my Dads on the mantel or an ancient plate from my Memere in the cupboard or a letter from a dear one gone that fell out of a book. I hide from that pain, I admit it, so I can function and not drown in it. I should figure that out. For now though, a busy mom, I have to make this little house a happy home. Being a military family we grow where we are planted.
This neighborhood is adorable and filled with kids and feels very safe. I can relax a bit here. The kids can enjoy nature and embrace a bit of their wildling sides that were held in at the last house due to neighborhood safety concerns. Before I know it, it will be December and I hope by then we will have things unpacked and feel settled and that husband will love his job here. So while we are a family of 7 in a 4 bedroom house, again, I know that we have what is important the love and care of one another and friends and family who may not always be close by, but are always in our hearts and in all the stuff we moved too! Just so many memories!
Emma and Gracie, moving is terrible on my heart. I wish we could be closer. I love you dearly. Take good care of your Dad as he takes such good care of everyone ok!
