A Bittersweet Goodbye

Saying goodbye is hard, no matter what the circumstances.  Moving to South Carolina was an exciting, anticipated event for us. But, that doesn't mean that leaving Indiana, our family and friends, so many wonderful memories, and the place we had both called home for our entire lives was easy. In fact, it was far from it.  Moving day came so quickly, and everything became very real the day that big ole moving truck somehow maneuvered it's way, backwards, into Peony Court. They loaded up everything of ours from Matt and Ashell's house where we had been staying for almost exactly a year, and then everything we had in storage at Fast Print, and that truck was truckin' our belongings down South!

Jeff, Brayden, and I followed a day later, and were fortunate to have one extra passenger along for the ride...Grandma! So thankful my Mom was able to ride with Brayden and I so BZ had some wonderful company and entertainment for the 14 hour trip.  We said goodbye to many friends and family members the couple of weeks leading up to that, Jeff's parents, Matt, Ashell, and Davis the night before, and PawPaw (my Dad) that morning. We drove to Asheville the first day, and on to Charleston the following morning.  The car ride gave me a lot of time to reflect on our journey.

Sullivan's Island...we could get used to this!

It's a very strange thing leaving your home to call another place home.  Strange because in some ways, you don't know if the place you're going will ever really be home. There are a lot of anxieties, 'what ifs', and so many unknowns.  As I'm writing this post in retrospect, we have been in Charleston for 7 months now, and I really feel that both places are home to me. You know what they say, home is where the heart is.  Well, my heart is here with Jeff and Brayden, the two boys I love more than anything in the world. They are my life, my loves, my everything. But, my heart is also with everyone we left behind.  My heart aches to see some of the faces I haven't seen in so long, to just 'drop by' and say 'hi' to my Mom, Dad, Ken, and Donita, to have a meal with them, just to BE with them. I long to see Davis and Brayden playing together, such a precious site I don't get to see enough, to have dinner with Matt and Ashell, to know that Steph and Matt are just a short car ride away, to have lunch with Mimi, a night out with our friends, to have play dates with my friends whose babies I won't get to see grow up in person, the list goes on and on. 

So no, saying goodbye is never easy. In fact, the first time I went 'home' to visit, it was harder to leave than the initial goodbye. But, every time gets a little easier as we continue to build our home here in South Carolina.  Just as when we had to adjust our normal to a new normal with Brayden's arrival, and again with his diagnosis, we are finding our new normal here in Charleston.  We are so grateful to live in a world with Skype, facebook, free long distance calls, and email. I don't think we could have said goodbye without knowing we would have those things to make our family and friends feel less far away. We're also thankful that we're able to make it back to Indiana at least a couple times a year.

When will we be able to truly call Charleston home? I don't know the answer to that.  We don't know what the future has in store for us, none of us does. But, we know that God opened this door for a reason, and we are all in.  Part of my heart will always be in Indiana, but I don't think it's such a bad thing having 2 'homes'.  After all, 2 is better than 1, right?

Our new home - Mount Pleasant rental