Our family is moving to Denver.
It’s been in the works for some time now, as the job offer was presented to Jay six months ago. We spent months in prayer, in depression, in arguments, in anxiousness, in excitement, in faith. We traveled there, looking at neighborhoods and trying to decide if it felt like a good fit for our family. We talked to people, did some research. Prayed a LOT… and finally realized that for many different reasons it was the right move for our family.
More accurately, that this was without an ounce of doubt God’s plan for us.
We’ve struggled with an incredible amount of emotions along the way. South Florida been my home for over 35 years; I don’t think a week has gone by in those six months that I haven’t cried at the thought of leaving all that I love. The list is endless: the humidity, the crazy thunderstorms, the rough-around-the-edges people, the alligators, the colorful vibe, the palm trees, the diversity, the traffic, the year-round vegetation, the heat. I even love the hurricanes. I am a true Floridian, heart and soul, to the core.
There’s the people we are leaving. My parents and brother. Jay’s parents and his grandmother. My best friend, Sanne, who I only met 7 years ago but has become the sister I never had. Kim, the girl who’s been my best friend since we were 6 years old and has been with me through every major stage in life. Christine, my roommate from college who has seen me at my absolute worst and has chosen to love me through it anyway. Tina, the friend who more than anyone has taught me how to love and accept myself. Leanette, who has never stopped encouraging me to move forward and not be afraid to face my fears. Jen, who has become my favorite running partner and motivates me to never quit. And the countless others in my life that have shown me the best and worst things about myself and have never given up on me as I’ve worked to be the best me I can be.
And then there’s our church. We fell in love with the community vibe of our church immediately, and felt like we’d finally found a place we could grow in our faith. And grow we did. Jay and I went through many seasons during our years at Crossway – our struggle with infertility, Emily starting school, job changes, marital struggles, and now this move. And although our church isn’t perfect and there have been bumps and hurt feelings along the way, we have always felt God’s presence while there. God has used the people in our church to shape us and prepare our hearts, very likely for this move, and their loving prayers have been an incredible force in this journey.
But to be honest, this whole thing sucks.
It’s so ridiculously hard to fall so deeply in love with a place and an entire family of friends and then feel called to leave. It breaks my heart. I don’t understand it one bit. Everything around me holds a memory. I can’t look at a palm tree without getting a tear in my eye. I can’t drive down the street without thinking of the roads ahead. I can’t think about saying goodbye without choking up. I just can’t.
I love having connections to people. And when I make that connection, no matter how silly or small or insignificant, that person has officially found their place in my heart. Do you have a brother named Kevin? You’re already cooler. Do you have a fondness for banana sandwiches? You’re awesome. Do you love Criminal Minds and jigsaw puzzles and ironing? Well hey there, new friend. That’s how I roll. I can’t not feel something for you once that connection is there. Because I seek out those connections, I find them. And as a result, I end up loving everyone. I just can’t help it. Yes, there are some people who have gone beyond that surface connection and reached the depths of my undying loyalty and love, and others who have rubbed me wrong, but if you’re in my life and there’s any sort of link between us, I’m happy you’re there and I genuinely mean that.
Yesterday a whole bunch of those fabulously awesome people in my life came together at a local park to say goodbye. Some were those deep-soul people, others I’ve only known a few months. We ate together, cried together, played together, and prayed together. And I left feeling more emotions than I think I’ve ever felt at once in my whole life. I’m overwhelmed with joy and sadness and excitement and pain and nervousness and eagerness and expectations and hurt and gratitude and peace. But the one thing I’m feeling more than anything is love. It’s smothering absolutely every other emotion.
I look at Jay, who has been so loving and supportive through this whole process, always letting me feel whatever I need to feel. I look at Emily, who has been so encouraging on my worst days – yes, my 9 year old is telling me it’s going to be okay. I look at Julia, who’s just a total bubble of excitement now that she knows moving to Denver doesn’t mean we will miss Christmas. I look to my friends, who have cried with me and made time to be with me before we go and are already planning their trips to come see me. I look at our church, who has prayed with us and encouraged us and loved us through it all. And I gratefully look to God, who has blessed us with absolute peace every step of the way.
So we look forward to our new adventure. We are confidant that God is the Maker of our path, and that His will in our life is what’s best for our family… even if that means His will lies 2,038 miles away.
Just look at what He’s done for us here in South Florida.
We are truly blessed. ❤
Second, Jay – the love of my life – has a major spice addiction. He loves seasoning everything and he loves creating his own seasoning concoctions for dipping bread in. He orders them online and finds new seasonings when we go on vacation. This means that our spice collection grows considerably faster than it ever gets consumed. And sometimes it ends up expiring before it has a chance to flavor up a meal for a second time. Ew. Finally, it was downright dangerous. Because I can’t easily reach the top two shelves, and because they are completely packed with expired spices, duplicate spices, and Jay’s newest purchases, opening the cabinet frequently resulted in a few bottles crashing down on top of my head. Not fun. Who wants to go to the hospital with a fennel seed concussion?
I’d tried a few different things to clean out the cabinet, but with no luck. A gizmo I bought at The Container Store ended up taking up more space than it provided, and a drawer/shelf combination that I returned because no spice cabinet disaster needs a $40 fix like that. Aside from the cabinet, we also have a small rack on our kitchen counter that holds 16 jars of spices. I think it was a hand-me-down when we first got married. I’d spray-painted it black and rubbed off all the gummy labels years ago, rewriting them on with a permanent marker but never satisfied with how blah the whole setup looked. It was time to do something once and for all.
The first thing I did was to pull everything out of the cabinet. I trashed out all the expired medications and put the unexpired bottles and vitamins all in one basket (they had previously been in separate baskets) on the top shelf. Then I sorted out the spices and pulled out all of the bottles that had expired there, too. It was quite impressive (she said sarcastically so as to hide her embarrassment).
Within an hour of placing the new plant on our patio we were graced by the presence of a beautiful adult, who was too busy laying eggs to care if I snapped some photos. It didn’t take long before more and more butterflies found our plant and laid their eggs too. A few days later we started seeing the newly hatched caterpillars, and we are currently providing residence (and free meals) to over 20 striped beauties.
It occurred to me that although we might not experience the rebirth of Spring where I live, I am blessed to watch this constant turnover of new life year round in my own backyard. Where many parts of the country have to wait for flowers to bloom, animals to emerge, and butterflies to return, I do not. Spring is, in a way, eternally here.
What a blessing!
