My family has moved a few times before, so the sounds of closing trash bags and the smell of boxes from the garage that we haven't opened in eight years are all too familiar. This move, though, this is different. All six members of my family are going to be in six different states, which is simply insane. This is not because we have such a bad relationship, in fact, we are closer than most siblings at our ages. We have just all been cursed with itchy feet. In going off to chase our dreams and never wanting to stay in one place for too long, we have found ourselves scattered along the east coast. And I really mean scattered. As north as Boston, south as Daytona Beach, and west as Tuscaloosa. With this move, we are selling the South Carolina house that we all had in common.
A few years ago, the thought of this move would have made me cry myself to sleep every night. However, with all of the changes and moves that have been happening (including my own), I now trust us all to stay close. I have no fear that we will be siblings that barely know each other. That thought honestly just really depresses me. In packing everything up, last night we found an old picture box. We were looking over all of our cute baby faces while I was getting frustrated because I couldn't find any pictures from after my birth (perks of being the youngest). I just can't fathom how those four sets of chubby cheeks could ever lose touch.
I am also not shattered from this move because I don't so much see this as losing my home base because my new home base is school. I never thought I could think of my school as such a home, but somehow in just a year, it happened. I can't even believe that in three years it will no longer be my home base, but in all honesty, I know I'll be ready to go somewhere new because of my genetic predisposition to itchy feet. I'm thinking University of Virginia for law school? Then we'll only be scattered across five states! Now, do you get what I was saying with the chasing dreams across state lines thing? It's truly a blessing and a curse.
Moving is always emotional because it represents the end of an era, but lately, I have been enjoying viewing it as the beginning of another. The era of high school and being the only child at home in ending, and I'm OK with that. Being the only child comes with a lot of pressure about choosing dinner since you can't defer to your siblings, and high school is the most awkward four years of most people's lives. Who knows where I'll be at the end of the next era of my life. All I can say is that I take comfort in the fact that in the end, my family will have seen all four corners of the world but we'll be right back together being overly-competitive at Jeopardy and scaring each other from behind corners. There are very few things I know for sure, but this is one of them.
