Comments on: What if you?

By: lala

lala — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:18:02 +0000

have I mentioned that we here are dreaming of a move to Seattle? I know I know. With or without the move, I feel also like whatever our lives will look like is just beyond the curve. I cannot get a glimpse of it no matter how hard I crane my neck.

By: Kate

Kate — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:12:42 +0000

I moved 11 times before the age of 22, and while I wasn’t the same age and didn’t face the same life situations as you do, I can identify with your fears. The answers vary in specifics, but generally I think you can only go back to a place and love your memories. Places change without you, which is why it’s so important to build new things in your new place, wherever you go. Wherever you go, it will be yours whether you like it or not.

And your kids will not need you for the same reasons as they grow up, but they will always need you (though they may try to trick you into believing otherwise when they become snotty teenagers).

I’ll keep you in my thoughts and prayers as you deal with all those unpleasant transitiony things.

By: Kat

Kat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:20:43 +0000

I understand how hard a transition can be. Transitioning to a new job…transitioning from healthy to living with a chronic illness…transitioning from single to married…this year is all about transitions to me. I understand the risks involved, the soul-searching, the growing pains and happy tears. I hope you know that my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Wherever you end up, there you are, right? And you are wonderful!

By: Judith

Judith — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:46:49 +0000

Go with the flow and enjoy the ride. Life will take you wherever you need to be next and, wherever it is, it will be another magical, inspiring step on your journey through life. Easier said than done, believe me, I know! But very much how I am trying to approach life nowadays, especially when I feel the way you have described here.

By: Jenna/The Word Cellar

Jenna/The Word Cellar — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:40:12 +0000

Where can all of you thrive the most? No place is perfect, especially when considering the needs and desires of more than one person. But what if you draw each of your ideal “circles of space” and see where or how they intersect. Maybe that will reveal some clues. Either way, blessings to you and yours as you navigate the unknown. We’re all navigating the unknown every day, but it feels bigger and scarier when we come into the wide open spaces of major life changes and multiple possibilities. None of us are wise. All of us are wise. There are so many of us standing in this field, looking around for the next path of the next leg of the journey. It’s good to remember that we’re not alone, whether we’re shopping at Target or learning a new language.

By: The Other Laura

The Other Laura — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:10:24 +0000

I am certain no matter where you end up you will find time to write. Uncertainty, not knowing is very very hard. I’ll send you a little light…

By: rowena

rowena — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:05:09 +0000

I don’t know how it will all work out. I am in a similar transition, a cusp into the unknown.

I think that is where the adventure lives.

By: Anj

Anj — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:27:56 +0000

We had a similar choice when we moved back to the US from our three years of ex-pat time in Australia. There is a freedom that comes from not having deep ties somewhere. There I said it. We continued the adventure in a different region of the US than what we knew before. Now we are moving again, and I have finally admitted to myself that I have wanderlust and I love to move. I hope you find that intersection where all your families needs and dreams can converge.

By: Linnea aka cafemercury

Linnea aka cafemercury — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:01:53 +0000

My kids are tweens. They need me less physically (they can bathe, dress, get their own snacks), but they need me more emotionally. I’m enjoying this time with them because I’m watching their “personhood” take form. (They also have more homework and occasionally need me to help them organize everything they have to do — particularly my oldest, who has MORE to do and also has an LD.)

Their divergent schedules (one starts school at 7:30; the other 9:15) and my two volunteer gigs cut into my free time during the day. At night, I can generally forget about writing, because someone needs something.

That aggravates me sometimes, but next year my daughter advances to middle school, which will mean even less free evening time. However, I drop off the elementary PTA board (hallelujah) and I’ll have more free daytime (unless I end up going back to work PT). The key is not to overschedule yourself with volunteer work. Those half-hours here and there really add up!

Finally, I constantly struggle with clarity. I think most of us do.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:55:08 +0000

You sound you are at that stage where you know that something is going to change, but you don’t know yet in which way… weighing up all possibilities usually leaves me totally exhausted… So don’t, embrace whatever comes your way… all will be good!

By: Saralyn

Saralyn — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:26:25 +0000

Thanks for sharing. It encouraged me to hear that I’m not the only one who struggles to feel certainty or clarity about what her life should look like.

By: Bethany

Bethany — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:22:14 +0000

It sounds like your current brand of adventure is the unknown looming just ahead. It’s certainly a scary and head-spinning stage, but one day it will be a story. That thought gets me through a lot of terrifying decisions.

By: Silvia

Silvia — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:53:26 +0000

‘torn between adventure and security’

been there…today i was thinking that perhaps we shouldn’t focus so much on putting a label on things. We can create security in adventure and adventure in security. We don’t have the choose. We only think we need to.