Since moving away from my parent’s home at seventeen, I haven’t lived in one place for longer than a year and a half. There were always good reasons to move, sometimes I was selfishly “moving up,” and other times, it was a requirement for a job or monetary reasons. Whatever the reason, I have moved almost twenty times in twelve years. Just writing that makes me sick to my stomach.
Moving is unsettling on it’s own, but never feeling settled down…well, that’s an awful feeling for anyone, especially a woman and mother who feels it is her job to provide a home for her kids and husband. And as we all know, a home is not just a house.
Usually, somewhere between the six month and one year mark, I decide I should try to hang some pictures and install some window treatments. On homes I have purchased I did that right away, because who ever buys a home (not intended for strictly investment purposes) they are sure they will move out of within eighteen months, right? Anyway, on the other dozen-and-a-half or so rental homes I’ve been slow to settle in because who wants to pack over and over again?!
So, here we are in New York for my husband’s job. We have no family here and very few friends. We have seriously considered a move to Massachusetts to be close to BH’s vast extended family, because let’s face it, life gets oh-so-lonely here. But, that would mean another move, and either a very long commute for my husband or looking for work in this crappy economy and leaving a job he is very good at and truly enjoys. After much debate and contemplation, we’ve decided to stay in NY for the foreseeable future. And…drumroll please…we just hit the eighteen month mark in our current home which makes it the house I’ve lived in the longest since I left my parent’s home.
What did I do to celebrate? Hung realwindow treatments (aka simple curtains, lol) in our bedroom. If you ask my Mom, she would say every time I’ve hung window treatments or pictures, I end up moving immediately afterwards, so she thinks it’s a bad omen. I’ve decided that’s just because I wait so long to do it. So, I stopped waiting and just did it. It feels good. I know it’s something little, and something my husband will probably always find silly and not the least bit helpful in making a “house a home” but it helps our goal of achieving excellent sleep and it makes me feel like a grown-up again. A grown-up that has been dying to settle-down for over a decade.
