Moving is a journey from one dream to the next

Yahoo6 days ago

Moving to a new house is a nightmare. There's just nothing enjoyable about deconstructing and subsequently reconstructing your life while it's in motion. Work, kids, and other everyday hurdles are all still present while you pack and shuffle your belongings around. However, oftentimes this anxious struggle is a necessary part of realizing a bigger dream. After a few chaotic weeks, I'm eager to get to that part.
My wife and I were only casually searching for homes when we found our new place off Rhoden Cove Road. There was something about this house that caught our eye though. Home shopping is weird like that — sometimes you just must wait for a certain feeling.
This home spoke to us like a painting in a gallery. Red bricks, white columns, rocking chairs, and a yard made for kids. A live oak out front and birds chirping in the back. All the charm we could ever hope for and close to so many friends. Tallahassee in a postcard. Once we began to imagine our family there, we couldn't shake the idea of moving.
There's a certain level of mental preparation required to get through that transition though. I blocked out the month of May on my calendar with a note calling it 'the gauntlet.' Buying one house, selling another, end of school year kids' activities, a mountain of work, managing contractors and employees, all while attempting not to let any of that disrupt our family dynamics. Woof.
I should note that my wife is a saint. Her ability to keep all these things moving in sequence, while tending to her own career and putting up with me, is beyond my comprehension. We'll celebrate our 10-year anniversary on June 20th,and I can proudly say she remains the answer to most of my prayers. She's also the fuel for my dreams.
When I was just starting my career, my big dream was to live in the Myers Park area, have a job where I could make a difference for our community, and be a member at Capital City Country Club. Of course, starting a family in that setting was the ultimate goal. Because I met, married, and thankfully have been able to keep my wife for a decade, all those dreams came true. However, the funny part about dreams is they tend to expand, shift, and grow as they become your reality.
Our new home is part of a different dream now. It's much more about our kids than us. I like to say my kids are my most important clients, and I honestly feel like this new home will be the foundation for their best possible childhood.
What my wife and I envision is a future filled with bike rides, pool parties, playing catch, and prom pictures. Barbeques, basketballs dribbling in the driveway, the laughter of movie nights, and magic of Christmas mornings are all part of that vision too. Seeing that version of us, together, in a new home, is all the motivation we need to not only get through a move but keep earning those special moments. It's not easy to uproot though.
It's hard not to get emotional when packing up one dream and leaving that chapter behind. There's so much we have loved about our life in Woodland Drives and living in the heart of Tallahassee. Our neighbors, moments, and memories there will forever be part of our story. That's the thing about dreams though. Where one ends, another begins. Moving is just the journey from one to the next.
Jay Revell is president and chief storyteller at Revell Media in Tallahassee.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Moving is a journey from one dream to the next | Jay Revell

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