So, I didn’t get my post uploaded yesterday for the October Blog Challenge. I was a little bit busy yesterday, busier than I thought I would be, anyway. We closed on the purchase of the acreage we’re moving to, and it involved a lot of driving – to the boys’ daycare and back (an hour round trip), to the acreage for the final walk-through (forty minutes round trip), to the bank for the closing (an hour round trip), back to the acreage to drop off some things (another forty minutes round trip), then back to the boys’ daycare to pick them up much later than I had thought I would be (another hour round trip). In between all of that driving, the closing took about an hour, we had to eat, there were errands to run…By the time we ate supper, it was after 8:00 p.m. It was a very long day.
Seymour was planning to take another load out to the acreage today, in addition to buying some things to start working on the basement right away. Since we haven’t yet sold our house, we won’t be moving right away, which gives us time to do some remodeling and painting before we have all of our stuff in there (and it’s going to be a tight fit – we’re moving to a smaller house than what we currently have, and we have a lot of stuff). That’ll be nice. But I’ll be glad to be finished with remodeling.
So, how does this relate to memoirs and backstory, or even to relationships?
Well, it got me thinking about my childhood. As a kid, we never moved. I lived in the same house from the day I came home from the hospital till about two months before I turned eighteen. There were a couple times that I lived elsewhere, but those were never intended to be permanent situations, and they never lasted much longer than my dad’s stints in rehab. When I was seventeen, though, I moved out for good, and it seemed like I was on the move for a long time after that. I moved twice before college, then to college and back, twice before Bubbles was born, and then again when his dad and I got divorced. Then I moved in with Seymour and we moved again a week before we got married. By the time we settled in our own house, I had had it with moving.
Seymour, though, grew up moving from farm to farm. His parents were dairy farmers, and I’ve lost track of all the different places they lived while he was growing up (though he’s told me all about them – I just can’t keep them straight for the life of me). I wanted to give my kids a more stable childhood than the one that I had, and for me, part of stability is putting down roots in one place.
In other words, no more moving!
The kids are excited, though. Bubbles already lives in the country at his dad’s, but Miss Tadpole is in town with her mom. Cricket and Thumper really aren’t sure what to think about it yet, but Cricket keeps talking about his “erin house” (his other house), which I find hilarious because I think he’s been out there one time and he got sick on the way home, so I don’t think he really even remembers the trip out there. Our current house has very limited yard space, so it will be nice to have room for the kids to run and play. And fruit! There’s rhubarb and raspberries and apple trees, and we have plans to install some mulberry trees, too. Yum.
And now I’m thinking about fun summers spent on my grandparents’ farm…but I think that’s a good topic for Wednesday’s post. 😀
Did you move around a lot as a kid, or did you stay pretty much in one place?
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Suddenly they all died. The end. 
Exciting changes coming ahead for you and your family. I moved a lot as a child. IN the last two years I’ve been working to get a photo of every house I’ve lived in during my life, although I’m having trouble with the ones pre-age-five because nobody can actually remember. We moved a lot then, too. My father is gone and my first mom doesn’t like to talk about it, and my second mom wasn’t around for my earliest days. When I met my husband I told him that either he was settling in with me or me with him but I wasn’t moving around a bunch, and we’ve stayed in the same place for 24 years.
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I think I have a picture of every place I’ve lived, primarily because I usually take one as we’re moving in. I don’t think I’ll get Seymour out of this house unless it burns down or blows away, and that’s all right with me. He’s a country boy at heart, and he hates living in town, so I hope we’ll be happy in our new home (when we finally move in, that is). There’s a great view of the countryside from the back of the yard, but sadly, I didn’t get a picture of it yesterday when we were out there. Next time for sure! 🙂
How many more pictures do you have to collect?
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I never moved as a child, either. My parents built the house when I was two, and I moved out when I got married at 19. My husband and I moved a few times during college, but when we bought our house after residency, we assumed we’d stay there forever. That’s why it’s a surprise to be selling “our forever house” and moving to a house with land. It’s a little harder to sell a house you love than it is just to move up the ladder, but when knowing it’s the right thing for your family helps. Looking forward to the next chapter in our lives with this move. . . God has it all planned out. . . I’m just holding on for the ride!
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I know the feeling – when we moved the last time, it was because we needed more room since we wanted to have more kids. Now we’re moving into a house that’s not that much bigger than our last house, the too-small one, and we have two more kids than we did before. It’s gonna be interesting… 😀
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Thanks for sharing all the details of your move. Starting a new chapter in life can be really exciting (although it often just feels like work)! I moved last March and instantly felt at home, despite the six inches of water that flooded the basement. Some places represent more than just a place to live. I hope that’s your experience in your new place.
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You’re welcome! I hope I’ll have the same experience as you, but minus the water, of course. 🙂 As it is, I feel like it’s just a bunch of work and Seymour is the one who’s excited.
Here’s hoping it’s catching.
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Good luck with your new home and may it be a happy place. As someone who moved about every 15 minutes, or so it seemed, I would have loved a stable home.
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Thanks, Roger! The last time we moved was four years ago, and the time before that I’d been in the same place for a year and a half. I suppose that’s pretty good, but I just want to be done. 🙂
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I know how you feel. Good luck.
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Thank you! 🙂
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Watch out for the white snakes.
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Oh, I will. Incidentally, I’m uploading those pictures now. Here’s hoping it won’t take long. 🙂
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Good oh
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I’m still looking for my home. I’m living where I have to live right now, but if I was on my own, I would be beside the ocean. Or in the desert. As a kid I moved once, from my parents to my grandparents at age 6months and then left my grandparents home at 18. My siblings’ childhood was more unstable than mine with many more moves. I hope to someday own a house, near some kind of water.
Your piece reminds me how much work, time and effort goes into making a change. it’s no wonder people resist this kind of upheaval, even if it is by choice or by necessity. I truly wish you a very happy life in your new house!
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I used to always want to live in Hawaii, but then I went away to college and decided I liked my tiny hometown just fine after all. The town we’re moving to (or rather, the town whose address we’ll have) is practically my other hometown, as it’s in the same school district as the one we currently live in.
Moving is definitely a lot of work! We took another load of stuff out to our new house tonight and it was 8:00 p.m. before we got home. Thank you for the well wishes! I hope you find your home soon! 🙂
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We lived 5 different places before I turned 7 and we always thought that my dad would be transferred again, but he ended up retiring and dying in that last place. It was kind of odd to always believe we would move but never doing it — we had roots but they were shallow.
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Wow, that’s a lot of moving! It would be odd to plan to move and then not do it. I had planned to stay in my current house for a very long time, so moving so suddenly is also kind of a shock. Why did you move so often?
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Great post. I’m a homebody, too – I understand your desire to stay in one place. This one looks special – and I’m sure it will be when you get settled in.
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Thanks! We’ve got a lot of plans for it, and hopefully we can get going on some of them right away. 🙂
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I always lived in the same city but I did live in different places. My parents were divorced so I had summers and holidays elsewhere.
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The last two places I’ve lived are both in the same town (the same town I grew up in, coincidentally). The place I’m moving to will be the third place in the Brook (it’s in the country, but that’s the address). It’s actually closer to a third town than the Brook, and I’ve had two other addresses in that town as well.
I can relate to house-hopping; both my husband and I have kids with our ex-spouses. It’s actually the reason our house is in the same school district, so that he can keep custody of his daughter.
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