Change Brings Challenge

A wise woman once told me that change brings challenge, and challenge brings growth. Well, here we are, about to make a big change in our lives. After 25 years of living in the hot humid south we are moving 945 mile north to the land of 10,000 lakes, Minnesota.

It’s not like we haven’t moved before. I moved from Southern California to Chicago in 1980. After meeting my husband and combining our two small families, we moved to San Diego, then 4 months later moved to the mountains of Northern California. After 4 years there, we headed back to Illinois because my husbands mother was very ill. A year later, in 1987, we moved to Tennessee and spent the next 25 years making a life and raising our children.

What makes this time different from all the others? Besides the amount of time we lived here, I'd have to say the friendships we made. We don’t have much contact with the few friends we had in all the other places we lived. Some we’ve had no contact with since we left that area.

Yet the friendships we’ve nurtured in Tennessee are different. There’s a bond created by years of living in the same community, taking our kids to the same schools, cheering for the teams our kids played on, and worshipping in the same church.

When I think back to those I’ve known in all the other places I’ve lived, I cannot say that the connections we had are the same as those we developed over the years in Tennessee.

However, that is not the only reason this move is so different from the others. Years ago, all we owned, kids, pets & possessions, fit in an old Dodge van. This time, minus kids and with one small dog, this is what we need to move....