I remember shopping at Target 10 years ago and feeling like I scored on an extra-long twin comforter and sheet set for $13 for college.The comforter was extremely soft and striped with all kinds of bright colors. I was preparing for the first time I would ever move. I had lived in the exact same house for all 18 years of my childhood, and I remember feeling like an adult for buying something as practical as a comforter set.
But the day I moved into college, I was bawling my eyes out like a baby. It never hit me that I’d be living two hours away from my family, which was all I had ever known. I had been so focused on getting the hell out of there, that I never stopped to think how much I would miss everyone I loved, or how much I would be forced to rely on myself, or how much I would have to grow up (the extent of which is arguable in college). An hour after my mom and sister left, I quit bawling (finally!), put on some Jack Johnson and started putting that duvet on my extra long twin bed. Merely hours later, I met some friends and started having a blast.
Fast forward ten years to today. I’m listening to the Garden State Soundtrack (which got me thinking about college in the first place), and packing up my townhome that I have rented with my husband for the last three and half years - the longest I have ever lived in one residence since I moved out of my parent’s house 10 years ago. In between my parents house and now, I’ve lived in eight different homes in four different cities.
We are moving into our first house we purchased together. The home buying process has been kind of brutal, with closing being pushed back four times, due to a million and ten hang ups. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’re really getting the keys on Friday, especially since I booked a rental truck for Saturday. But I can’t begin to tell you what a relief it is book a rental truck for what could potentially be the last time. We bought a house with enough room to grow into, and more than enough space for the pups to roam.
It’s just amazing to the think all of the life that’s happened between the last ten years, from the first time I ever moved, to what I hope will be the last time for at least another decade. I went to college, met some awesome people, met boys (mostly dumb ones), partied hard, lost my grandpa, went to Africa, worked a part-time job I thought I hated until I turned it into a writing career, met my amazing husband, watched my mom beat cancer and go through a liver transplant (she just had her two year transplant anniversary yesterday!), got two furry pups who have stolen my heart, discovered running, discovered yoga, discovered marriage, and truly started discovering myself.
I’ve made many fantastic friends, gained a fantastic second family and met a bunch of fantastic people, and stayed best friends with my home girls whom I’ve known since 1st grade. We’ve been friends for more than 20 years now! It’s so nuts to think of how fast time has flown. And I only know it will keep speeding up.
I just needed to take a moment to stop packing up the memories so I could appreciate them and realize how much love I’ve experienced in a decade. And I'm excited about all of the love I’ll experience for the rest of my decades, in our home that we don’t have to move from if we don’t want to! We won’t have to deal with landlords, or hearing our neighbors' conversations, or their dogs' barking. I’m so excited for all of the memories we’ll make in our new place. I can already see Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas trees, and all of the barbecues and love and laughter.
Now if we could just get those damn keys :)
