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For those of you who’ve relocated to a new town or a new state recently, I have a question for you: How long did it take for you to feel like you were home?
We moved to Virginia almost two years ago after living in 5 different states over a ten year period…so relocating was “old hat” for us. But this last move proved to be more difficult for us than past ones. And even though we love living here, it seems like it’s taking a while for me to consider our new home…home.
Most likely, this hesitation is a result of two issues that were new for us this time. First, we had kids in school and it was a mid-academic year move so that obviously contributed to the stress. Also, we never really considered previous moves permanent. They were just temporary stopovers in our adventure as corporate nomads. I was never expected to invest deeply in the area in which we lived, so I didn’t.
This time, however, we moved closer to family and back to a state that we’d lived in before (and went to college in). And with the kids getting older, making friends, and becoming involved in their community, we feel it’s important to settle down a bit.
I think we’ve also come to appreciate the benefits of letting your roots grow in a little (no, I’m not reversing my position on GREY roots), and how difficult it can be to sever those roots (the kids and I really miss our friends in Mt. Lebo, snow at Christmas, and I’m suffering a little Roethlisberger withdrawal).
So now that we’ve agreed that we should cool our jets and hunker down for a while, I find myself feeling a little like that guy who’s girlfriend wants to get married, but he’s having a hard time committing. And kind of like the girl in this song - a skittish, little grasshopper who doesn’t stay in one place for very long (but isn’t big on Goodbyes).
~tcb
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Kelley // Oct 24, 2008 at 12:48 am
I think it depends on your attitude. We moved when Moo was born and I settled in straight away. We did a few more moves and then a huge one when the girls were in school. I never settled there, mainly because it was the place where Boo got diagnosed so I always felt unsettled. A year later we moved again and I was ‘home’.
Kelleys last blog post..Found on Boo’s computer.
2 Kim // Oct 24, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Yeah, I’ve had a similar experience since moving to the Chicago area this spring. I think just keeping up with the stress of so many other things going on make it tough to get settled. I’m now planning to solve it by volunteering for a committee for the town we live in. …Make it my own home town.
3 Monkeytoemomma // Oct 24, 2008 at 6:38 pm
When we moved from Texas after more than 10 years in the same house to California; I never felt at home in our new city/state. I hated everything about it. I really didn’t want to move in the first place so I guess I didn’t give it a chance. But also, I hated the school in CA too. After six months there, we moved back to Texas, not back to Dallas, but to the city that Brian and I started out in. Even though we haven’t lived in this city in over 11 years, it still feels like home - weird how that happens, huh?
Monkeytoemommas last blog post..Squirrely Mail
4 Tricia // Oct 26, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I wish I had some fantastic advice, but I don’t We moved to a new home and neighborhood about 18 months ago, determined to grow some roots for our son to stand on, but just this morning my husband was wondering about Montana. I often feel like this house is temporary, even though we proclaimed it permanent.
Tricias last blog post..Friday Photo Funday
5 Emily // Oct 30, 2008 at 12:55 am
I post this comment having just searched out houses, local community centers and jobs in a village we loved back in England. We’ve been here a year and although in the beginning I was full of determination to make it work its becoming harder and harder to play the “it will work out sometime” game. I don’t know what the answer is but husbando and I were talking last night and I think that one of the biggest things about moving somewhere else is you need to feel, in your bones, that you belong. As much as Vancouver feels familiar the UK feels like home.
6 NJ Guy // Nov 5, 2008 at 12:30 am
Just came across this while surfing, and it’s an interesting questions: I have yet to get to the point where I feel like Jersey is home, but it will take time I suppose.
NJ Guys last blog post..Sea Isle City in the Fall
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