There are three duplexes on my street that have LDS people in them. A married couple lives two doors down, and two single sisters live four doors up. We are all friends. All adults are, or were recently, PhD students. Three of the six of us, one for each house, have been awarded the title of Dr. in the last six weeks. (I was first!) The other three will be awarded the title before the end of the year. This is to tell you that while we are all at different stages of our social lives, we are at exactly the same place in our academic/graduation lives.
Today a moving truck pulled up in front of the married couple's door. Six hours later, they seem to be packed up and moving on their way. I am jealous that they are done, that they have movers, and that they have a place to move to. I chided myself early for feeling this way, then realized, it's okay to feel sad, it's an emotion, and a valid one given my circumstances. What I can't do is wallow in self pity. Afterall, there is still work to be done.
My neighbors up the street also have places to move to and jobs to go to. (Although, like us, they will be packing themselves. Except not like us they are single and just moved in last year, so their amount of stuff is still managable).
I have been packing seriously for two weeks now, but because of a cute little 19 month old, am not finished yet. (And we opened the attic on Saturday, and seemingly doubled our stuff in the period of an hour.) Once the packing is finished, we will be moving no where for an indeterminate amount of time. I can only seem to relate this to being a child, and having your parents tell you to "get in the car, we're going somewhere," and letting the somewhere be a surprise. Except my Heavenly Parent (who assures me He has a plan) also expects me to pack up my life first, and live in someone's basement for a while on my way to "somewhere." And I'm not coming back to this home. But I am holding onto this somewhat flawed metaphor because I sincerely want to feel the enthusiam of taking a great adventure that will surely bring blessings, lessons, and the opportunity to see the Lord's hand revealed.
It will also allow other people to do great acts of service for us, which is good for us and them. I have friends coming to help watch Kiddo while I pack, and to help us move stuff out of our house and into our (ridiculously small) storage unit. Someone is letting us stay in their house. Someone else has offered another house. Boxes have come empty, so we can fill them up. We are not alone.
But I am tired. There are boxes to fill.
