zoom…

Wowza! What a whirlwind of a summer! Honestly it hasn’t even felt like summer. It has been more of a hurricane of emotions tangled up with a non stop roller coaster than the usual fun in the sun. At the very end of June, Nick was offered a promotion located just over two and a half hours from home. With an estimated start date of September first that gave us just over nine weeks to get shit done!

I feel like this is not a lot of time to get a house ready to put on the market, sell the house and find a new house a few hours away. Lining up closing dates, moving our belongings, in addition to working around vacations, made things a little more hectic and stressful. Nick spent just over a week backpack camping in Montana – only to come home to spend two days with Taylor and me before we hopped on a flight to New Hampshire for a week with family. With a crazy amount of summer camps compiled with the kid performing in a musical, coupled with our trips, our time was definitely limited!

Somehow we managed to pull it all together and keep our sanity (at least what little we started with). Teamwork, elbow grease, assistance from family and some good old fashion luck made it possible to sell our home and find a house with the closings back to back – all before school started! It is really incredible when you think about it.

This summer was definitely exciting, yet draining. Anxieties, mixed emotions, a hectic schedule and exhausted bodies led to a couple heated moments. Thankfully we all made it out alive! Now we are in the final stretch with the end in sight. With all the craziness I have checked out of some habits: journaling, blogging, taking pictures and posting Facebook updates. I am starting to come back and join the land of the living though!

Although unpacking is time consuming, I find it to be a huge anxiety relief because it is something I can control and manage with visible results. I look forward to things settling down and finding a new routine in our new community.

One task we will have after moving, is helping our dog with the transition. Her anxiety has been very elevated with all the packing, rearranging and showings. Hopefully once we are settled and she understands that we are not leaving her behind she will relax and fall into her old routine in our new home.

Taylor, our fully animated ten-year-old, has been taking the move in stride. I have been quite impressed with her openness and flexibility towards the move. That is not to say that there have not been moments and tears because there has. Only to say, that she is handling it better than I anticipated. I think that it really helps that we are a family that drives and travels. So moving two and a half hours away is nothing for a weekend trip and she knows that. Also with technology it is a lot easier to stay connected.

This move is bitter sweet to me. I love our house and our neighborhood. Leaving her school and dance studio is hard. Friends and family will be a little further away and need more planning and coordination before visits. I am excited at the prospect of a new adventure. Being further north means we will be closer to our favorite camp grounds and waterfalls. It will also push me to make new friends. Such a tricky thing as an adult because most people in our age bracket have established friendships and are less motivated to invest time in new ones. Time constraints being one of the biggest barriers. Damn adulting!

I am overjoyed that Nick is being promoted. The interesting thing about this promotion is that when we were within our first year of dating, roughly eight or so years ago, he was offered this same promotion a half-hour from his current promotions location. My wonderful husband, then boyfriend, turned down the promotion slowing down his career advancement because I was not ready to relocate us from family that early in the relationship. After being taken off the promotion list, placed back on, working his way up the list and waiting patiently for movement; it has finally happened! He succeeded in earning his next rank! Also my heart more so by chosing us over work. We are so proud of him and I look forward to pinning him at the promotion ceremony in a couple hours!