I'm struck dumb by how you've been able to tuck such exquisite literary military corners around the edges of this moving business! I've arrived as a character in one new life chapter after the next, more addresses and phone numbers under my belt than a drug dealer! Am so impressed with your mindful musings about finding your way home! ( I do believe it's situated in the heart, yes?)
Oh Katie-I love your line about more addresses than a drug dealer! So so so true! I really want to catch up with you sometime to hear about all the missing chapters in the between times...And yes the heart, of course. ❤️ I am also a firm believer that certain places can be home in a similar way to the heart. It feels like there is unseen cellular-level activity that is triggered when you smell the smells, feel the quality of the air, and see how the landscape is shaped that your body knows it is home, or perhaps some sort of sacred place like home. But maybe that is a bit too woo-woo 😉.
Another wonderful, insightful, and moving piece. Thank you. You were so brave to go through all the big changes at once and come out so well on the other side. I'm sure that more difficult than the wardrobe was the uncertainty, worry, and maybe fear about being so far from you mother and children. That's what happened to me. When I told my mother, I was going to move to Spain, I was the one who cried. Not her. She took it like a kind and wise mother. Thankfully, she knew how to use FaceTime on her phone, the only thing she did know. That made a world of difference in our separation. There are many anxieties and uncertainties leaving but we can only tell ourselves, and truthfully, those will be balanced on the other side by new adventures, massive learning, curiosity, wonder, and excitement. Plus a new place for our children to visit and new memories to create with them.
Thanks Andrea, and also for sharing your story. There is always that trickiness with family when you chose to move a long way away. We can only do what feels right for our situation and hope and work hard to make sure it has the best outcome possible. But sometimes things go awry and then you just have to deal. They go awry anyway, no matter where you are! I am so delighted to hear that your mother had figured out FaceTime! Lucky for all indeed!
As I prepared to go back East to college in 1975, my dad bought me a "brass-bound trunk" -- anyone remember those from Nancy Drew? I packed my belongings into it, and off I flew with it and several suitcases. Plane, bus, and finally taxi -- I was dropped off on the corner near my dorm, and fortunately a group of football players were willing to help me muscle that trunk and the rest of my suitcases up to the 4th floor. That trunk stored my goods over the college summers, and then moved with me to Boston, and when I was married it moved with me to New York, and then to Maine. When we sold most of our stuff prior to moving aboard KATIE MACK in 2017 (and putting furniture, etc. into storage), we left my trunk at the boatyard, "just in case". Last month, I finally said good-bye to my trunk. We were closing out storage at the boatyard, and it wouldn't fit in our other storage unit. I feel as if I have left a piece of me behind.
I had one of those too Pam! I'm sorry you feel bereft-it is hard to say goodbye to those symbols of earlier parts of our lives. Hopefully someone is making new memories with it now. And you are making new memories yourself with your slimmed down possessions and more nomadic lifestyle!
Wonderful words, Sabrina - I’m agog for the next episode! You’ve described many things I’ve been through - there are feelings that we have had in common. Goodbyes are tricky; but new hellos are just as much. Sometimes I wonder which in fact are harder? So much to think about here! Thank you for sharing this brilliant story, and for encouraging me to look back on my own life adventures. 😊 Home is where me make it, but our history belongs to us just as much.
Thanks so much for your comments Rebecca! Moving is so tricky yet so valuable in personal-growth terms. Lots of emotion and symbols all wrapped up with those hellos and good byes. It took me a long time to be okay with good-byes and not feel as if they were catastrophic. I feel like hellos now are as much about my own energy management as anything else. (not sure where that came from-gotta love this writing activity!).
I'm struck dumb by how you've been able to tuck such exquisite literary military corners around the edges of this moving business! I've arrived as a character in one new life chapter after the next, more addresses and phone numbers under my belt than a drug dealer! Am so impressed with your mindful musings about finding your way home! ( I do believe it's situated in the heart, yes?)
Oh Katie-I love your line about more addresses than a drug dealer! So so so true! I really want to catch up with you sometime to hear about all the missing chapters in the between times...And yes the heart, of course. ❤️ I am also a firm believer that certain places can be home in a similar way to the heart. It feels like there is unseen cellular-level activity that is triggered when you smell the smells, feel the quality of the air, and see how the landscape is shaped that your body knows it is home, or perhaps some sort of sacred place like home. But maybe that is a bit too woo-woo 😉.
Another wonderful, insightful, and moving piece. Thank you. You were so brave to go through all the big changes at once and come out so well on the other side. I'm sure that more difficult than the wardrobe was the uncertainty, worry, and maybe fear about being so far from you mother and children. That's what happened to me. When I told my mother, I was going to move to Spain, I was the one who cried. Not her. She took it like a kind and wise mother. Thankfully, she knew how to use FaceTime on her phone, the only thing she did know. That made a world of difference in our separation. There are many anxieties and uncertainties leaving but we can only tell ourselves, and truthfully, those will be balanced on the other side by new adventures, massive learning, curiosity, wonder, and excitement. Plus a new place for our children to visit and new memories to create with them.
Thanks Andrea, and also for sharing your story. There is always that trickiness with family when you chose to move a long way away. We can only do what feels right for our situation and hope and work hard to make sure it has the best outcome possible. But sometimes things go awry and then you just have to deal. They go awry anyway, no matter where you are! I am so delighted to hear that your mother had figured out FaceTime! Lucky for all indeed!
As I prepared to go back East to college in 1975, my dad bought me a "brass-bound trunk" -- anyone remember those from Nancy Drew? I packed my belongings into it, and off I flew with it and several suitcases. Plane, bus, and finally taxi -- I was dropped off on the corner near my dorm, and fortunately a group of football players were willing to help me muscle that trunk and the rest of my suitcases up to the 4th floor. That trunk stored my goods over the college summers, and then moved with me to Boston, and when I was married it moved with me to New York, and then to Maine. When we sold most of our stuff prior to moving aboard KATIE MACK in 2017 (and putting furniture, etc. into storage), we left my trunk at the boatyard, "just in case". Last month, I finally said good-bye to my trunk. We were closing out storage at the boatyard, and it wouldn't fit in our other storage unit. I feel as if I have left a piece of me behind.
I had one of those too Pam! I'm sorry you feel bereft-it is hard to say goodbye to those symbols of earlier parts of our lives. Hopefully someone is making new memories with it now. And you are making new memories yourself with your slimmed down possessions and more nomadic lifestyle!
Wonderful words, Sabrina - I’m agog for the next episode! You’ve described many things I’ve been through - there are feelings that we have had in common. Goodbyes are tricky; but new hellos are just as much. Sometimes I wonder which in fact are harder? So much to think about here! Thank you for sharing this brilliant story, and for encouraging me to look back on my own life adventures. 😊 Home is where me make it, but our history belongs to us just as much.
Thanks so much for your comments Rebecca! Moving is so tricky yet so valuable in personal-growth terms. Lots of emotion and symbols all wrapped up with those hellos and good byes. It took me a long time to be okay with good-byes and not feel as if they were catastrophic. I feel like hellos now are as much about my own energy management as anything else. (not sure where that came from-gotta love this writing activity!).