The Move: One Year Later

It was one year ago today that Narasimha started his new (and current) job. It was around a year ago that we moved from our first home together as a married couple, changed towns and churches, and basically had all we were comfortable with turned upside down.

About a year and a week ago we packed up all our things and our friends and family moved us from our simple home, which we purchased a month after we were married, to a rental in our current town. This rental was in a questionable neighborhood, and was infested with bats, mice, pigeons, bugs, and probably other things I don't even want to know about. We lived there for 3 months, until the city basically kicked us out because our landlord wouldn't fix the house enough to have it up to code.

Fortunately, after living there only 2 months, we found a house to purchase, and for one month we had overlap so we could start some kind-of major home improvements in our new house and still have a place to sleep.

What we miss from our old town:
- Our church.
- Our friends.
- Having friends.
- Some aspects of the town.
- A brand new house that felt like ours and didn't have problems or need major fixes.

What we have gained in the move:
- A sense of the strength of our marriage. We have now been through a few big trials together (infertility, and a move to a new town we aren't crazy about) and I think we both feel closer through surviving these trials.
- A few good friends for which we are grateful.
- Closer to family - Kristina's family is less than an hour away.
- A job that, besides the occasional glitch, Narasimha is really happy with.
- Financial and material blessings.
- A house, that when improvements are done, will probably be comfortable for us and maybe even start to feel like home.
- A new puppy Bella :)

What we still want:
- To feel more at home and associated with our church.
- Spiritual growth - together and individually. We both feel very lacking in this since the move.
- To know of some purpose why God has decided to have us here.
- To start our family asap.
- To stay in touch with the friends we left.

I just can't believe it has been a whole year since we left. Sometimes it seems like just yesterday we were there, and comfortable, and normal. Sometimes I can hardly remember the phone numbers of some of my best friends. Some of our friends have added to their families, and some are about to. Our friends have children who are growing like weeds, who we will probably hardly recognize when we see them again. Narasimha has been practicing all by himself for a whole year. I can still mentally walk through our old house and remember how things looked, and where things were. I can almost even remember what it felt like to be very much more settled than I am starting to wonder if we'll ever be here.

Life is full of changes, whether big or small. We can either embrace them or be stuck living in the past.