Home Sweet Home

I have this "trapped between worlds" feeling that I get when life is in transition. Like last year when we were ready to move up here, the house sold and packed up, all of us living out of suitcases yet still living in Memphis. It was like slamming the brakes on a tremendous amount of forward momentum.

Now I feel sorta the same way. I need to be packing but Zack has been in Memphis this week so you can imagine how much "work" I feel like doing after my day of "work." I'm really trying to enjoy our last few weeks up here, to let the kids play as much with their friends and continue in their A2 routine for as long as possible. I do feel for them that we are uprooting them from a settled life and plunking them back down in a routine they may not remember, the baby in particular.

Plus I have that feeling because we finally had a house offer go to the point of acceptance! We are very excited and, I must admit, a bit anxious. It has been nice being renters for a year, not worrying about major house maintenance or feeling the pressure to constantly improve. I think I've been to Lowe's twice since we've been here, if that puts it into perspective for you.

We are moving out of Midtown after a lot of thought and a lot of discussion. We both love the area (Zack does more than I do but he's open for something new) but it was hard to find the right house in our price range. If we were willing to spend a lot more or a lot less we would have been OK. So we made the decision to focus our efforts in East Memphis or Germantown, both areas in which you can get a lot of house for the money. The house we have the contract on is very close to where my parents used to live on both of their tours of Memphis...just east of Kirby, north of Poplar. It's a lot more space than we had on South Watkins and gives us room to grow, as they say. (That being said, we don't plan on adding to the family; just watching the ones we have "grow!") Other than sweat equity, it really doesn't need fixing up...just updating. But it is well cared for and the couple selling it are downsizing after 24 years in it and raising three boys. The commute will be different for both of us but I think all of the positives outweigh the negatives. And who knows: That dream job of Zack's may pop up in the next few years.

I had my parent/teacher conference today with IEM's teacher. I was about to cry by the end, she was so genuine in her affection for IEM, describing how much he loves to learn, what he's good at, how he's a friend to so many and how much they are going to miss him next year. He has grown and thrived so much in the Montessori environment. After the few bumps in the road, he has really found his groove there and loves going to school. I hope it continues.

Well, this may be the last post for some time. We are planning on leaving A2 by the end of May so I do need to get cracking at night on those boxes and this cleaning. Donated a bunch of infant/toddler toys to the ladies at the Y's ChildWatch. Donating another bag of kids' clothes to Purple Heart tomorrow. Need to start putting up the heavy winter stuff. Zack took a bunch of clothes and coats with him to Memphis so that's a little less to ship. We'll get it all done.

Thanks for stopping by.