Out with the old... in with the move!

For at least seven years I've really had a hankering to leave California. Every now and then I'd broach the subject of at least a bi-coastal lifestyle with Bro Wynn.. He wasn't feeling it. So, that idea was off the table and I was ok with it.

Now, in my second year of "widowhood" (a horrid word, isn't it? yuck!), after downsizing from a  3500 sq ft home in the Mariana Hills of Apple valley to a cute 2 bedroom 2 bath townhouse-ish apartment,  and after listening to the advice of others to stay put- to wait before making a move, I'm ready to pack up now.

A lot of people have a desire to "go home" after a while. My hometown is Birmingham, Alabama. But I moved to Los Angeles with my parents when I was 4 years old. So my experiences in Birmingham are from summer vacations, and a four-year period when I was a college student in Huntsville, about 90 miles north of Birmingham. I have no feelings of nostalgia that make me long to return to the south. I don't have those feelings about the place I was raised, either.  My parents have been living in Pasadena for over 30 years now, a city I also lived in for a few years after I got married, and where our children were born.  Pasadena is about 75 miles from my current location. Once my own young family and I moved away from  that area in 1993, I knew I'd never go back.  Looking back,  from 1979 (the year I got married) to the present, I've lived in 6 cities in southern California; none of which I care to return to. As I told my son yesterday, I believe I'm supposed to keep moving forward, not backward. And I strongly believe my holding pattern here is temporary. Like, soon to be OVER!

I don't feel like I belong in California anymore. Sometimes I even feel like an alien on this planet! (some of you may completely get what I mean). My head and heart are set on Maryland, near D.C. I have family and friends there.  And yes, it's cold in the winter. Somehow, this doesn't dampen my desire to move there. There are just a few loose ends that need to be tied before I can leave.  I know I blogged that I still have a mission here, with the young people I've been mentoring since August of last year. That's going strong, I enjoy my time with them, and they seem to feel the same way. Other than my ministry with them, and the people I know God placed in my life in the last two years, I don't see, with my fleshly eyes, what more I can or need to do here. The people I've met, including the young folks, and I can stay in touch through this awesome internet, and of course, our cell phones. To my way of thinking, I don't have to be here physically to continue to be of service.

Today, the 2nd day of the new year, I'm believing there are changes just ahead. Awesome changes! Fantastic changes! And new challenges. But I'm ready. So ready that, in anticipation of that moment's notice, I'm rummaging through the rest of my downsized belongings to toss out anything else I won't need to carry with me. In short, I'm about to pack up now...

Again, happy new year to you! May you experience enough joy to offset the challenges, and more love than you've ever known before (which will completely obliterate the negative affects of all your challenges)!

Until my next entry, I'll be doing more downsizing, so I can be ready to make my move...