Here We Go...Again

We signed the lease.

It’s official.

We’re moving . . . about 30 miles away.

I wish I had known fifteen months ago that moving 3000 miles across the country (from LA to DC) would feel so devastating. I wasn’t prepared for how much I’d grieve the loss of my “home.” I miss my friends, the sunshine, and the familiarity of my favorite nooks and crannies.

Recently, I came across Just Moved Ministries – an organization founded by a woman who dealt with the trauma of leaving her beloved South for the arid desert. I don’t know much about her program (although it seems like a brilliant idea). Anyway, she says: “A move is something a woman feels and a man does.”

So true.

Here is the good news: Yes, I have an empty place inside me that misses the city of angels. But another place inside me is filling up with all the lovely people, places, and things DC has to offer.

Once I get my hands on a GPS tracking system, my tears over the move should all but vanish. (DC is not a good city for someone with no sense of direction. In LA I could always fall back on my favorite trick: adjusting my body so that the ocean was on my left and then telling myself, “Okay, straight ahead = north!”)

After searching and searching and searching, Ron and I finally agreed where we’ll settle down for the next few years. We’re going to rent a place from a couple who is moving to California (funny, huh?).

It’s sort of a far commute for Ron, but I think we both realize that if there is any chance of staying here long term, it’s important for me to fall in love with the area.

I think I’m finally ready to do just that.