Tucked Away

I’m not sure why, but it happens every time I move.

Throughout my five years of college, I moved multiple times as most college students do. Started off living at home, moved in with some more family, rented an apartment with a friend, rented a house with another friend, moved back home for a bit, rented from my sister and brother-in-law. Back in those college years, I used to be able to pack everything I owned in my maroon Oldsmobile Alero I bought for $3,000 of tips I saved from waiting tables. Today, it’s a bit different (it’s amazing how much you accumulate when you combine two people’s stuff…). All in all, it truly doesn’t matter where I move, it has happened every time:

Pack the boxes, cue the tears.

Maybe it’s change, maybe it’s the scatter-brained feeling that moving produces in me, maybe it’s the end of something, maybe it’s the unknown.  Whatever the case may be, moving makes me a teary mess.

In a week, my husband and I will be moving from Ottawa to Cornwall. We’re blessed to have a lovely home owned by an even more lovely lady to stay at while we, hopefully, look to buy a home of our own someday soon.  We’re well into packing and storing our things away until that time comes – when we set up another place we’ll call home.  We’re so deep into packing that I, as I type, am sitting in the middle of the floor of our now completely empty spare room that’s calling me to vacuum it.

Out of all my past moves, this move has been the teariest of all (if that’s a word?). And I think I know why:

We’ve been tucked away. Ryan and I have been so beautifully tucked away for 1.5 years. My husband went beyond my expectations and found for us not just a place to live but rather a place that felt like home to start us off.  Better yet, no one had ever lived here. A nice, fresh, clean place to call ours for however long God had. There is not one thing I didn’t like about our first home. Blessed, huh? I know. And I thanked God continually during my time here. Jokingly of course, I’ve heard from a couple people that we’re “ruined” because we started out in such a nice place. That’s silly. It’s exactly where we were supposed to be and we will always have these memories of our first year in this beautiful little home, in Ottawa, just the two of us.

And that’s the place I will get to in a few weeks: able to think back to our first home with fond memories and think of all the fun adventures we had here in Canada’s Capitol. After work on Friday we will pack the van one more time, do some last minute cleaning, and leave the key behind. Next week we will find a new normal and all will be well.

But for now, right at this moment? I’m still a little teary. Ok, a lot teary.

And that’s ok.