Change is the Only Constant

Life has been throwing us some curveballs lately, as it likes to do.  So, please excuse me as I work through my thoughts a little in my journel...uh, er.... blog.  I am not really a person who loves change.  I'm always the mom who wants my kids to stay little.  I've always been the kid who didn't want to move.  I'm always the one who wants things to stay as they are.  Unknown things scare me a little bit.  They are hard to predict, and I like things to be predictable.  I like schedules, I like to-do lists, I am a very practical and organized person.  And it is hard to prepare for things when you don't know where you will be next year, or what you will be doing.  We have so many unknowns right now, that it's hard to get past them.  

We have moved pretty much every year since we've been married, some years more.  The change of moving is so consistent, that it really is predictable.  The only thing that isn't predictable is where we will be living.  I have become very attached to our life in this house.  I love the house, the garage, the space, the backyard, the frontyard, the kitchen, the granite countertops, the big island counter, having 3 bedrooms... all of it.  But I would give all of that up if it meant we could stay in the same ward.  I'd live in the smallest apartment we've lived in again, if it meant I could keep the friends I've made; if it meant I could keep the play dates, the lunches at the park, the relief society activities, the people to talk to in church, the friends for my kids.  Those are the things I've really come to love and appreciate.  In our five years of marriage, I have not had one friend at church until we moved here.  In the past 4 wards we've been in, even with being totally active, we have moved away not knowing more than 5 people's names in each ward, each time.  We've always been labeled as "transient" and we learned to live to fit that label.  

When we moved here, people welcomed us.  They brought us cookies and introduced themselves.  I got a calling that didn't put me in the corner, behind the piano, unable to meet anyone.  Ward members treat us like we'll live here forever.  Neighbors invite us to playgroups and to the park.  We were visited in our home by the bishopric and relief society presidency for the first time in our marriage.  My kids have had friends to play with for the first time.  We received neighbor Christmas gifts for the first time.  We knew dozens of names in our ward  within the first month of moving here.  The people here have changed my life.  They have made me a happier person.  I am so grateful to them for being so kind and for reaching out to us.  I really needed it. 

It breaks my heart to think of moving this fall.  But, I do know that everything will be ok.  Even with all the unknowns, we are a family and we have each other.  When I'm feeling down, I like to look through old pictures, because it reminds me that we have been so blessed.  Even through all our moves, and all our "friendless" years, we have been so happy with each other.  We are a close, strong family, and I am confident that we will continue to be.  So here's to the future, unknown as it is.  I am excited to continue to make memories together and to love one another!  I really do know, that things are not only going to be ok, they will be good.