Tired of Moving

I moved to Colorado in 2006.  Ready to start fresh, to figure out what it was like to live across the country from almost everyone I knew.  It made me realize a few things.  1.  I have a strange love for almost all things Pennsylvania and Maryland.  2.  I have a ridiculous amount of random knowledge about these states.  3.  I miss being with a few hours from almost all family members.  4.  Being more than a few hours away from all family members has been very healthy for my family :)  5.  It was time I grew up. 

It's easy to look for answers from people who have been there my whole life.  There are a select few who almost know me better than I know myself.  With the amount of people in and out of my life, they remained steady and constant.  A compass for me throughout the chaos of life.  I like to think I've added to my compass since being out here. 

So, when we heard this weekend that our landlord wants to move into our house, I felt displaced.  I suddenly remembered being in AmeriCorps and changing living arrangements every few months.  Then coming to Denver...I've lived in 4 places in 5 years.  Perhaps everyone has been doing this.  I just have to say...it's not as much fun anymore.

With all of my moving, I felt a little like a gypsy.  Keeping most of my things in a bag, just in case.  There was something magical about it.  Like staying in a place for too long wasn't in my blood.  It took me quite a few moves before I finally unpacked.  (Actually I think Will made me unpack).  So it's frustrating to leave this home, where I wanted to unpack for a few years.  I know that we'll find a great place.  I just feel a bit turned around.  But how can anyone say no to this face?

 I would also like to be here again:

Instead of worrying where residence number five will be.  It's just one more thing.  Sometimes, I just wish things were a little bit easier, for all of us.  But I think that's what the compass is for, to remind me which direction to go in.  That maybe I don't know useless trivia about Colorado, but it's an amazing place and sometimes the best things in life take a little work.  And lots of moving. And great people will be there too.  I really wish that people would invent a teleporter already though.  The inner nerd in me believes it would really make visiting a lot easier.
So...here's for an amazing adventure in finding a new place.  And here's to the amazing people who remind me where I'm going, so I am comforted  by the direction I am headed...

Walk in the Snow

Sometimes, I don't realize how good it feel to walk around when it's quiet.  When I was growing up, we lived in a neighborhood full of houses, but if you walked about half a mile away, the houses disappeared and there were farms....and space.  There's still nothing like being outside on a quiet night and being able to see the stars.  However, walking around on a snowy day brings some peacefulness too.  I took these pictures on the walk. 

 I'm feeling thoughtful today, but I can't seem to be able to put those thoughts down on paper.  I'm supposed to be working on my paper.  In working on it, I stumbled upon some of my favorite theories.  Thinking about the meaning we derive from our lives.  I feel pretty lucky.  I have no idea what I'm doing, but I have good people in my life, live in a great place, have a great family. 

 Growing up, I lived on this broken down farm house.  We had a giant tree on a hill with a tire swing.  This picture reminds me of being so little and thinking everything else is so much bigger.  I forget, what it means to be small...to have so much hope...to be so naive.  To think if you swung high enough, your feet would touch the sky.   We also had a lot of woods around our house.  My sister and I would go exploring.  One part was full of junk, but we would go through it all and bring a lot of it back to our house.  There were these beautiful antique bottles.  I think we left them there.  I would love to go find them again.  We also had a pine cone collection....because having a pine tree with hundreds of pine cones in the front yard wasn't enough.  We put them in this big cupboard.  We showed all our friends who came over and asked them to contribute more pine cones to the pine cone collection.  It's the simple things in life.  Now, I think my mom was probably pretty happy it was an easy thing to keep us busy.  Sometimes, I still think about swinging until my feet touch the sky. Goodnight moon.  I like your hat.

 

I saw this bird in a tree and it made me smile.  I hope it makes you smile too.