Moving

I had every intention of crafting some well thought out piece for my blog tonight, but instead, you'll have to settle for a low-key diatribe about what's been on my mind the most lately: moving.



For the past 7 years, my wife and I have been living is a much too small 1 bedroom apartment. It wouldn't be so bad, but we've got a 4-year-old. Yeah...it's been a bit tight, you could say. Best laid plans were waylaid repeatedly and we just kept saying, "next year." Well, after much ado, "next year" has arrived. We're signing the new lease this week, the move-in date is set, the truck's been rented and we're (nowhere near) ready to go.

The move came about due to the sort of forces one can never see coming in advance. My wife has been commuting 1.5 hours to Princeton for the past 7 months with the hope of getting a permanent position (yes, she commutes that far for a temp job). Meanwhile, after some time in limbo, my job and division are being relocated to Philadelphia. Not exactly where we were hoping to be, but, considering the current economy, we're both just happy to have jobs. And, now we can graduate to a bigger apartment, in an actual neighborhood, have real furniture, and a door to close when we go to bed at night (when your living room doubles as your bedroom, the door inevitably becomes an inconvenient obstacle). The new digs will give my wife a 10 minute commute and provide me with easy access to the train, where I'll have an hour each way to spend writing (should I really be this excited about commuting? Yes!).

And so, with moving comes the inevitable packing and preparing; putting everything in order so that the relocation occurs in a relatively orderly fashion. Yeah, I don't see it happening either. I'll just be happy if we don't break anything too expensive in the process (like, my back). And, when you're a reminiscent fellow like me, you can't help but pause over the little bits of life you find yourself packing away. I wouldn't call us packrats...we're just really bad at throwing stuff away. We save with good intent, and then stare at it blankly years later wondering why we never utilized it. The worst has to be when you find something that you just bought a new one of the previous week because you didn't think you had any. Yeah, we're like that.

When we embark on a new journey, whether it's physical or mental, we set expectations. Nobody moves without a hope for the future. If you have no hope, you remain in one spot and wait for life to happen to you. As my family and I set out on this new adventure, I am filled with all sorts of hope. I want to see my son learn and grow and excel in his new environment. I want my wife to find happiness in her career and achieve all that she has the potential to. For myself, well, I'm aiming low. I'll finish up my current work in progress without a doubt. Then I'll find representation...and get published in 2011. Overdose of optimism? Not at all. Every journey begins with a sense of optimism and hope. Why should my writing journey be any different? I won't stand still and wait for my dreams fade. I'm moving on.