On this date

April 11, 2012

Sad moment on my way to bed:   After watching a movie, I brought my snack dishes to the kitchen as I’ve done a thousand times. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach at the thought of leaving this place, my home of 40 years. It’s like a death or like a terminal disease - so hard.

New beginnings require endings of the old. I often focus on the excitement of the new, but I also choose to embrace the sadness of leaving the old behind.

I know that I have to leave one place to get to another, but the leaving is fraught with all kinds of obstacles: uncertainty, fears, sadness & grieving.

...

April 11, 2017

Moving to yet another new place and leaving yet another familiar place - albeit with very little sadness in this leaving. On this date in 2017, I was feeling just okay with that front room... until we moved my rocking chairs in.  Then the place started to feel like home.  

The lovely Boston rocker was a wedding gift from my man.  The big old squeaky one was the one my mom rocked me in when I was a babe - and then my little ones.  More recently my first-born rocked her little one in it.  I'm so glad those chairs survived the downsizing.

By the way, Bob did eventually tackle that front room and turned it into something amazing. 

April 11, 2025

Once again on this date, the cherished rocking chairs have yet another new home - in the historical house that Bob rescued after it had been abandoned for many years.

When I remember that momentary gut-punch on this date in 2012 I'm so glad that we were able to move past it... To say good-bye to that beloved spot and head out to new beginnings... More than we ever could have imagined.