A sense of home

I've been feeling displaced lately. We moved the remainder of our belongings into the storage unit this weekend. Swept and cleaned the old place, then locked it up and left town.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad about it all. A lot happened this weekend. Unloaded two cars and a house. Rather drastic for a 48-hour span. We visited with friends, which was bitter-sweet. People we love dearly, who we won't be seeing as often as we'd like. People who have drastically impacted our lives for the better, and to whom we owe much gratitude.

I've never been one to really mourn leaving a place, but I suppose most of the time we've left with a firm plan and a place to move up. And now, for the first time, we've moved.. not down, not back, not up, not forward. We've just moved to a whole new reality, really. We parted with SO MUCH "stuff." We pared down to what really mattered, and without those blankets of "stuff" around us, I feel a bit naked sometimes. Not that I need all that stuff, nor do I want to be burdened by it again. It's just so very different. I haven't had this little in so long. I used to be able to move from apartment to apartment in the back of a station wagon, then a van, then a small moving trailer, then a truck, then a semi.... now, with three of us, we're back to only really needing a small U-Haul. It's so very unconventional, yet so very practical.

I am ever-grateful for the friends we have been staying with these past few months. They have offered us security, family, fun, love, comfort, a bathroom ;), and so much more. I doubt I'll ever think of them as anything but my family. We have gained brothers, sisters, nephews, and kittens :)

It's amazing to be going through this process of moving onward. It is not a simple process, but it is a life-altering one, and I think our family is approaching it in the healthiest way we can: together, with integrity and love.