We did it. I still can't believe we did, but we did. I really thought I might spend the rest of my life in New England, but here we are in New Mexico! Our friend Bryan wrote a really interesting
blog about changing your identity to match the place where you live and deciding "where you are from." We felt like we had come to a similar crossroads after 5 years in New England. Where were we from? Where do we belong? Our kids are from New England, but we still didn't quite feel like we were. We weren't sure we wanted to be either. Where is "home?" Are we westerners anymore? I guess we are now! Eventually I hope we all feel like we're from here and that we had a great 5 year adventure on the East Coast.
I thought about changing our blog title since we started our blog when we moved to Stow, MA and all the references point to that. But, I think we still feel like "stowaways" so, I think the title still fits. Someday when I have NOTHING to do, I might even give the old blog a face lift, but it's going to have to stay boring for now. Hey, at least I figured out how to get the family picture up on top so you can see it. (credit to
bbsnaps for awesome pics - not easy to get a decent picture when you're trying to make 2 dogs and 2 kids sit still and smile.)
Anyway, after staying with friends for 10 days, flying here, staying in hotels for 3 days, having my mom, Jessica, and Bret here in a chaotic unpacked house for about a week, we are finally settling into living in our new house. It doesn't quite feel like home yet. We're still unpacking. We need to paint and hang pictures. We need to get some new stuff to fill empty spaces and store what used to be stored in all the built-ins at our old house. But, things are moving along.
(girls in window in m. bedroom)
Gracie started school. She seems to be doing ok so far. I was SO worried about her after our last weekend in MA. Friday night there, we went over to our house one last time to check on it since we couldn't close on the sale before we left. She spent a full hour lying on the floor of her empty bedroom howling and crying. She kept sobbing "I don't want to leave this room. I want to stay in this house forever. I don't want to move." I have seen many significantly sad things in my life, but that hour might possibly have been one of the saddest things I have ever witnessed. It sure didn't give me much confidence that I was doing the right thing. I know she hasn't had time to miss her friends yet. I know it's coming. But for now, she seems to be fairly content. She seems to have made a couple of friends at school and hasn't had any meltdowns since we got here. She was even caught uttering the words "I like Albuquerque." We didn't hardly dare acknowledge it for fear we had imagined it.
Hattie, I'm not sure what she thinks. She's been sleeping in her bed well (except for last night.) She hasn't asked too much about our old house. Every once in a while she'll ask for something that used to be nearby and think that we can just dash over to it, but doesn't realize how far away she is. She is mostly bummed that she can't start preschool again until the fall. (me too!)
Velvet and Shadow arrived on Thursday night with our friend, Bret. You will not meet a nicer guy. He volunteered to drive me to the airport in my car, take my car home, pick up our dogs and David's treasured bikes, and drive all of them across the country to our new house. I still can't believe anyone would do that. We were so relieved to not have to fly the dogs. I was so worried about them being so old and having to make 2 long flights with a layover in the middle of winter. They seemed pretty happy to come with Bret and were pretty bummed to see him leave on Sunday.
(new bff?)
My mom and Jessica also flew in to help us. Unfortunately, all the adults in the house got sick as we were moving in. We sent my mom and Bret home with some seriously bad viruses. Still, we managed to get quite a bit done. We are so lucky to have had so much help and it was really nice to get to spend some time with all of them too.
(crusty faces)
(thanks Grandma!)
As for me. I am LOVING the sky. I missed the sky the whole time I lived in New England. The only thing that kept me going was the view of the river from my front rooms. I miss that view now too, but it is all better when I go outside and I can see horizon to horizon and watch the clouds as they pass overhead. I love the sunrises over the mountains that you can see from our upstairs windows. I love the sunsets you can see from our bedroom. And, I love the sun. I understand sun-worshipers. I am very close to being one. I have heard about the torrential weather in New England these past 2 weeks and I am utterly content to be sitting here in dry, sunny weather - even if it is a bit chilly still. I can feel it warming up to spring and I can't wait to spend the entire summer outside in the sun, with no bugs, and no humidity. I feel so much more productive when the sun is shining. I think I really like it here.
Grandma Primmer turns 80. LOVE HER!
(the kids with both great-grandmas - Grandma Pearlie and Grandma Primmer.)
(early Easter egg hunt, yum.)
(Grandpa Lyle kept so still that the Easter Bunny left some treats for the kids right on his shoes!)
Grace's new cool awesome bike:
Hattie's first bike ride on big sisters hand-me-down (why does Grace get to pick all the bike colors? Hattie would really like a pink one!)
pretty girls in pretty Easter dresses:
ahh... the sunshine... it doesn't get old:
