Going Home

In the fall of 1999, I moved away.  Away from my parents and away from my friends.  Away from everything familiar and known to me.  I didn’t move far, but I moved.  I spent one amazing year at college and came home for the summer.  Just that first summer.  Then, I stayed away for a very, very long time.  I spent one more year on campus, then moved to an apartment with my friends.  I traveled all over this great country and quite a few others.  When I graduated, I decided to stay put.  I loved my college town and my college friends…not to mention my college boyfriend, who eventually became my graduate college husband! 

I spent four years teaching and going to graduate school, and then we decided to move to a new city.  A bigger city.  A city that promised a new job for my husband, and also promised a brother – Jordan lives in this new city and that’s what made me say, “Let’s go!”  We’ve been here for three years now, and they’ve been the best three years of my life.  This is where we bought our first house and had our first baby.  We’ve made our own home here and we absolutely love it. 

But….

As soon as Sylvia was born, we both knew this wasn’t the right place for us.  We love our jobs and we love our neighborhood, and we certainly love, love, LOVE Uncle Jordan, but something has been missing.  We spend almost every weekend away from here.  We’re either visiting our friends in our old college town or we’re visiting our family in my hometown.  We tossed around the idea for a while, but once Christmas came and went, we were one hundred percent sure:

It’s time to go home.

I miss my family. 

Sylvia needs her grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.  It just makes sense now. 

So, with that, I’ve come to accept that my 18-year-old self might be a little disappointed.  But my 18-year-old self did not have a baby.  And my 18-year-old self ended up having all of her dreams come true.  So my 18-year-old self really has nothing to complain about and it’s time for her to SHUT IT!  We’re going home, and that’s that, young lady!

For the last few months we’ve been diligently searching for jobs and prematurely looking at houses in the area.  I’ve accepted a fourth grade position at a really sweet little school and Sylvain has a couple of prospects in the works.  Our house is going on the market this week and I’m praying that it sells quickly.  This summer will be full of changes, but I understand that they are all for the greater good.  As soon as the dust settles, it will feel really good to know that we’re home.