There’s so much more to this. Saying goodbye to a home along with all the memories made there is emotional and really is going to be saved for another blog post. I did have to share this though now that we have Internet again. The day we arrived in Louisiana for our 4 year stay, the twins were 7 months old. We drove separately from Charley because he needed to meet the moving truck in a timely manner, and I don’t move three children and a dog in a timely manner. Passing the “Welcome to DeRidder” sign on the way into town I half-heartedly announced it to the kids. No one responded. We were sad to leave our last home, tired of driving, and it was hot. We were used to the last part, but man that seems to make everything feel heavier.
We arrived to our new home, which I later lovingly called our oasis in the middle of nowhere. Drew hopped out of the car and was instantly zipping through the rooms. I slowly unloaded the twins and as we got to the front door I set them down. I watched them crawl into our new home and new life. I snapped this picture and I’m so very thankful that I did.
Four years later and time seems to have both flown by and stood still. I thought of the picture above a few weeks before the movers came and after more trouble than there should have been, I found it. As we walked out of our house that I truly loved to head to Longview, I snapped one more picture. There’s no denying the passing of time now. They crawled in and walked out. With that I feel the heaviness of moving again, but also a bit of contentment. We’re bringing up some amazing kiddos, even if they do make me occasionally want to hide in the bathroom. There weren’t the tears like our last move, at least not for the same reasons, but there is the weight of the book, the one that’s closing on one adventure. Thankfully, there’s always another one to pick up and start fresh.
With that we say a big goodbye to our oasis, our friends that became family, and a bigger goodbye to the military. It’s been good to us and an amazing experience I wouldn’t trade for the world.
