Boxes.

We arrived to our new life in July. I don't even know how to describe July. It was a mess of boxes and travel and time with some of our favorite people... and chaos. In August, Dan was still hoping to travel... I needed to stay put for a bit. So he took the girls to Disney, and I stayed here to get us settled. I unpacked some of the boxes, spent time with some friends, binge watched some shows, and enjoyed our new view.

School started for the girls. Dan still had some time off and we worked on unpacking the basement. During this time, I ended up with a jacked up back, a bizarrely jacked up eye, and general frustration that things weren't getting unpacked as quickly as I'd hoped.  The boxes persisted.  

A storm threatened our house. We boarded up and headed west. I already had a trip booked, so I carried on as usual. Dan and the girls stayed with our friends. The boxes stayed behind. 

The storm came and went- we only lost a few shingles. We had one final week of Dan being off- so down in the basement we spent time. We also went to brunch. And watched TV. And cooked. And still... boxes.

Dan has just started his new job. They girls are getting in to routines at school. I've just started to make friends in our neighborhood. We've had people over for dinner. We've been to playdates and cookouts. We've figured out our grocery store layouts. We have our favorite local restaurants. We see the water daily.

And here's where we are with the boxes... The way our new house is laid out, we have as much space as we did in our Winston house, it's just is designed completely different. Currently, the basement is unfinished. To have the amount of space we'd like to use, we need to have the basement finished. Our goal is to do that by Christmas. The problem with that is that we are still floor to ceiling boxes in parts of the basement. Until we have furniture in place, we can't unpack the boxes. Until the boxes are moved, the furniture can't be in place. 

People have told us that it took them a year- or longer- to get fully unpacked. Others have told us that they still have boxes from their moves years ago that they still haven't unpacked them. UGH. While that makes me feel "normal"... it also stresses me out that it could take us that long to be fully settled.

These boxes are making me crazy. Everyone has words to share: "If you haven't used it yet, do you need it?" "Shouldn't you throw half of that away anyway?" "Take your time! The boxes will still be there when you're ready!" All of those statements come from well- meaning people. And I get it... but we've spent MONTHS getting rid of things and it feels like it's never going to end.

This was my view this morning right before I driving to our bus stop. I see this loveliness daily. Even Monday- when I immediately went back to bed because I'd had an asthma attack. Even on days without the boxes unpacked. I'm trying to remind myself that this is my view... not the stacks of boxes. And when you hear a great cheer coming in the days to come, it will mean we have the boxes unpacked. I'm not sure how soon that will happen, but until then I will tend to the boxes when I'm able, and enjoy our view when I'm not. 

 

Moving Right Along...

Dan and I started dating November 4, 1999. By the end of November we had said the "I Love You"s that usually took longer to say.  By January we had planned a future together.  We were engaged January 15, and then married May 13, 2000. 

In 2003, We heard about a job at the RMH one day... the next day I applied, and soon we were packing boxes to move.

February 2008, we looked at our current house for the first time.  At the end of the visit, we told the owners that we wanted to buy the house. No major discussions, no weighing pros and cons for weeks on end... we knew that it fit what we wanted in size and price, so we said yes.

We don't do slow.

When things make sense, we act quickly.

Last fall, things started to fall apart at Dan's job.  He began putting feelers out and knew that he'd soon be looking for a new employer. We had NO intention to leave Winston-Salem. While we originally thought this was just a stop on the road for residency, it has been home to us for 17 years. This is where my children came home to- from both the hospital and from another birth mother. This is where I sat beside my mother as she died. This is where I grew into my life as an adult. It's where we found lifelong friends who walked with us through joy and pain. It's where my home has been filled with family and friends time after time. The only time we thought about moving was when we prayed about moving to Arizona with our friends to help plant a church. (At that time, my Mom's care was still local, so it wasn't an option.)

This time, though, as Dan was looking at multiple job options, I said... "What about broadening your search?" Immediately I envisioned us living in my WNC mountains. I started thinking about regular hang outs with my childhood friends and breakfasts at Biscuit Head on the regular. Dan started researching... and then applying.

During these conversations- something happened that I can only regard as prompting from the Holy Spirit. I uttered the words: "What about Wilmington?"

Those of you who know me know that this is as far from my comfort zone as I could imagine. Living that far from Asheville? Away from my friends here? What in the actual hell was I thinking. Which again is why I have to assume it was the Spirit prompting me to offer.

Dan looked at my like I had 4 heads and said "Are you being serious?" My Eastern NC husband has forever been in love with that end of the state and would love nothing more than to live in Hampstead- in a home he helped his father build in the late 80s.

He started looking at jobs there, and quickly things started falling into place.

AND he got an offer in the mountains. When I said to him "I don't think you're supposed to take it," I wondered, too, if I had lost my mind.

Fast forward through all of the details and contractors and more details and house prep both here and in Hampstead... and we are moving. Dan is in the process of saying yes to an employer who has made a wonderful offer for him professionally... and I am in the process of losing my mind with all of the details that I have to juggle to get us to Wilmington.

We will move sometime this summer. Dan's last day at Daymark is June 14- then he and Eliza (my child formally known as Elizabeth) will head with a group from her school to Europe for a whirlwind trip. We are still planning on Wild Goose and a beach vacation (ha! booked before we knew we were heading to the coast!) and Eliza will still go to DukeTIP for camp. Other than that we have no idea what will happen when.

We will be living in Hampstead, a suburb of Wilmington, in the house Dan helped build which overlooks the Intercoastal Waterway. Our house is "across" from Topsail Beach. Please come visit.

In the meantime, we'll be packing and crying and celebrating and crying some more about leaving behind this town that we love so much. We're grateful to have your prayers in this process... it's a lot.

Eliza is thrilled about a fresh start... Julianna is apprehensive that she will leave behind some of her toys. Dan is excited about being "home"... and I am excited about a new chapter, a chance to focus on my writing some more, and a lovely wrap around screened in porch. Please come visit. Did I say that already?

I'd love to have a cup of coffee with you on the porch where we'll have this view... and we can sit and talk long enough to switch over to other beverages later in the day.  And maybe then I can give you even more details of the story and you'll understand why I've dropped so many balls the last few months. Or maybe, we'll just be together and the salt air will make us forget it all.