Three Months

It occurred to me last night that we have been living in Virginia now for over 3 months, and that led me to some thinking about how things are going.  With all change comes mixed feelings and emotions.  My emotions about the move are still up and down, ranging from happy to sad sometimes all in one moment.

I miss our house in Utah.  I miss the community that we had around us.  I miss the comforts of a place I had lived for 6 years. I knew it would be hard to start over, and that's been true.  For the first year or so that we lived in Utah, I struggled to get settled and found it hard to integrate in the new area...but that was exacerbated by my working from home, which is not the case this time around.

After three months, we are settled in our house.  By settled, I mean the boxes are all unpacked and most of the pictures are hung on the walls.  But now the list of things that I want to do to the house and yard are growing.  These things all cost money, and with only one salary we have to be cautious of spending money.  Patience is a virtue here, but I always struggle with that.

In contrast to the small town feel of Utah, I feel much like a small fish in a big pond here.  I wonder if it will always feel like that.  I'm sure it won't as we integrate in with the kids' school and activities, and eventually I will get more involved again (i.e. PTA) but for now, I am taking a much needed break. 

The kids seem to be doing fine.  Gone are the days of complaining about leaving Utah as they become immersed in school and new friends, new sports teams and new adventures.  I know that time will help a ton for me with getting to know their friend's parents.  Like it or not, that's how friends in adult life come to fruition. In Utah, it took us a good 4 years or so before we had a nice group of friends to call for help, hang out with and have some fun adult time.  So again, patience is a virtue.

As with any change, there are ups and downs.  I am sure had I been capturing my thoughts after living in Utah for 3 months, it would have definitely been a mixed bag.  I feel all over the place in writing this post, it's really hard to compose my thoughts into a cohesive format. I will revisit the topic in a few months and see how things feel with a little more time.