My View from the Moving Van

Moving stinks. There are great parts about it. But it's hard. And it never seems to get easier.  I should know. In my 33 years on this earth, I have moved 12 times. If you weren't a math major, that averages out to every 2.75 years.  That's a lot. My family is NOT a military family, either!

Of those moves, 2 were dorms in college, and 6 were moves to different houses in the same town. So those weren't so hard. But it sounds more dramatic to say I've moved 12 times. But I have seriously lived in 6 different towns in 3 different states in 2 different time zones. For a girl who likes putting down some roots, that's tough.

Our last move was the toughest. We moved all 4 of our children (one of them being only 5 days old) to a whole new state. Sam, our oldest, was in Kindergarten, so thankfully the kids weren't leaving a ton of friends behind, but he still misses his one best friend.

But this move has been the toughest for me. The ironic thing about this being the toughest is that this is my favorite place we have lived so far. I LOVE where we are. I love our church. I love our house. I love the town. I love the people. But, still, change is hard.

I have realized over the last few years how precious (and rare) real friends are. And, honestly, it's hard to make real friends if you're moving all the time.  My closest friends are a few girls who I grew up with. When I went home over Christmas, I got to have dinner with two of them. I CHERISH these times. I feel most like me when I'm with them. They know me. I know them. There doesn't need to be any pretending. No convincing. No posturing. Just love. And understanding. And being confident that somebody "gets" me. I know typing it out, it sounds cheesy even to me. But that's really how it is, and I love it.

Our dinner last month, though, was hard for me. I may or may not have broken down into tears at my favorite restaurant.  Being there with my friends made me realize how much I miss them. And how much of them I miss out on. There is WAY too much catching up on each others' lives. I wish I just knew what was going on. They both knew what was going on with each other. It was just me who didn't. I know they live in the same town and get to see each other more, but I hate the feeling of being the odd man out. Not that they leave me out. It's just how it is. I don't live there. It can't be helped. I can accept that, but I don't have to like it.

Then there are my Georgia friends. Before we moved here to Louisiana, that was our home for 5 years. I made a few good friends there, and even some GREAT friends.  But the thing with that....the people who live there have lived there for years. Most of them forever. So, I moved in, and tried to figure out my place there. I did have some fun, great, sweet friends. But, once again, I moved. They didn't. Their lives remained the same, or worse, returned to life exactly the way it was before I came there. Like I never even was a part of their lives. Sure, there are the exchanged Christmas cards or "checking in" texts/facebook posts and promises of visits. But it's different. And unlike my hometown friends, there is no history. I don't know their "backstory" and they don't know mine. Nothing that creates that cement that friendships need to survive. So keeping up with these friends takes a lot work. From both parties. And sometimes life gets too busy to be able to put in that effort.

So, now, here in the present...I've been in Louisiana for a year now and I'm in that "trying to figure out my place" role. There are tons of really sweet, really Godly girls here that I love. I hope and pray that we are gonna be here for a long time. Previous pastors have stayed 20+ years and I want to be in that category!! But right now we're still in the new phase. People here already have their groups of friends. And so many of these groups have been so wonderful about welcoming me and including me and making me feel loved. But I still know that I'm not part of the group (YET!). I know that's normal, and again, it's just a part of being the new girl and that everyone has been there and I'm not alone. But it's still a hard place to be when you're there.

I desire close friendships with girls. I want real friendships. Ones that aren't just surface. {which is also difficult because sometimes it's hard for me to get real with people who are church members since my husband is the pastor, but that's a whole different post} I am trying so hard not to just give up even trying. It would be easy for me to say "it doesn't matter" or "it's not worth it." But I refuse to do that! I believe that close friendships are a wonderful gift from God. And I am determined to be a better friend...to those I've known my whole life, to those I only knew a short time, and now to those that I'm just becoming friends with.


Disclaimer 1:
I also know that part of it is just where I am in life. I have young babies at home. I am in the midst of schedules and diapers and naptimes and getting everyone where they need to be. I know that things will change sooner than I'm ready and that I'll one day have time to meet friends for coffee and lunch and trips to Target. I know that. But this post is about how moving has affected me. And that's where it has hit me the most....in my friendships.

Disclaimer 2:
I also know that I have not been the kind of friend that I am saying I want. I realize that all friendships take two people to make it work and I don't always invest like I need. I don't always take the time to cultivate my friendships. I don't call/text as often as I should to check in with people. I'm not whining that I'm the perfect friend and that my friends don't reciprocate. Again, not the point of this post. This is just a post saying that moving a lot makes making and keeping friends harder than it would be if I had stayed put.

Thankfulness Days #23-30

Mmkay, I missed a few days! But we had a wonderful trip to Mississippi to celebrate all our blessings with our families, and we have been trying to decorate for Christmas. I forgot how MUCH is involved in this. And how messy it gets. And how much there is to put up/take down. Yikes.

OK....
#23. Thankful for Starbucks. YUM! White chocolate mocha no whip, please!

#24. Thankful for my children's friends. I love watching them play with their friends and I am so glad they have good friends from our church.

#25. Thankful for church committees that work so hard to get things done. I did something I never thought I'd do this week...write a thank you letter to the finance committee! HA! But I'm so thankful for a church who works to see that our financial needs are met.

#26. And because of that, I'm able to stay home with my children. So thankful for that! I may have already mentioned this one. But it's worth another mention. I love being able to be here. I love that my husband supports me in that. Wouldn't miss these moments for anything!

#27. Thankful for heated seats in my car!

#28. Thankful for Dr. Pepper. Hardly a day goes by that I miss out on one!

#29. Thankful for technology. Love my iphone, blogging, facebook, Words with Friends, email, texts, etc

#30. Thankful for the birth of Christ. Looking forward to celebrating with my sweet family the TRUE meaning for the upcoming season.

Thankfulness Days #18 & #19

OK, so I skipped last night. My bad. It's because I was out having a life! :)

Which brings me to what I'm thankful for numbers 18 & 19.  First, I'm thankful for Girls' Nights Out!! Yay! I got to go to dinner with 2 of my friends last night. So much fun. We tried to go to Starbucks, but it was already closed. Say what?! Anyway, we still had fun!

And, along with that, I am thankful for my friends! I am lucky (?) that I have moved around a little bit and have collected friends from many different stages of life and places.

Here are some pics of my awesome friends. Definitely not all of them, but some pics I could find quickly!

Hometown Friends:

 Lauren, Casey & me...Toga               Lauren, me, Allison, Betsy...Sr. Cruise

 Betsy, me, Allison.....senior year          Allison, Katie, Elizabeth, Lauren, Casey, Anna, Melody, me

                                                         Aylsia, Amanda, Sara, Sarah, Betsy

                                                        Karen, Tara, Ashley

College Friends:

me & Jennifer...at a swap    Sarah Grace, Leigh Anne, Carrie, Ashley

                                           Jennifer, me....Bid Day Sophmore Year

Jennifer, Jennifer, Leigh Anne, Laura Murphy, Jessica, Gayle      me, Allison, Jennifer            me & Laura                                                       

Carrie, Sarah Grace, me....at a swap         in the Grove                   Grunge swap        

Hometown friends....a few years (or so) after high school....LOVE staying in touch with old friends:

 Kate, me, Catherine                       Shan & me 

                                                                (love that my sister-in-law is one of my BFFs!)

                                                Melody & me                                       Kelsey, Christa, me, Michelle                        

                                                                                   Karen, me, Anna, Catherine, Katie

My newest friends (from churches Eddie has pastored):

Some GA friends: Michelle, Patti, me, Dory

Some LA friends: Ellen, Becky, Mandi, Chastidy, me, 

Julie, Crystal, Crystal

Thankfulness day #11

Today I am thankful for fun nights out with my family and friends. We are on our way home from eating out with another family and we talked and laughed and had a great time. Someone even commented how "well behaved" our table full of boys was. What?! We'll take it where we can get it!! :)