We made it to the other side...

Well, we made it to the other side of an exhaustive move and of Nashville... we are "Westsiders" now... although the Eastside will always have a piece of my heart.
Boxes are still lingering in the corners of almost every room, but no longer surround us completely. I realized there are so many mixed emotions when you pick up your entire life and transplant everything familiar to someplace else. The mental chaos is kind of consuming, as those of you who I used to speak to on a regular basis have discovered. (sorry guys- won't be too long until things are a bit settled around here...i'm praying anyway.)
The first few nights I felt kind of claustrophobic in our old bed, in our new room facing a different direction, knowing if I had to get up in the middle of the night that I wouldn't automatically know where anything was. And I was terrified that Ru would trip or run into a wall that wasn't there in her mind for the last 2 1/2 years. Alas- neither happened and the worry was for naught. But it still made me crazy.

And it does take some time to get used to new digs and all that ensues with a move. We've moved 10 times in the 7.5 years we've been married, this makes the 11th. But this one feels the most like we're making a home. Simply finding a place for everything is the biggest comfort in itself. And our new place has more closets than I have things- which- let me tell you- is a very first for me! We'll see how long that lasts... but we have committed ourselves to paring down our lives, our things, those things that can also become all consuming if you let them, which is so so easy to do, without even knowing it really. "Stuff" - such a seemingly gentle and cutesy word- really carries a lot of weight with it, and I'm realizing with that, that Stuff only weighs me down, I actually was feeling so emotionally/mentally/spiritually heavy.

Unless I'm talking about the stuff in my art studio. :o) I could scream with joy about the fact that I have a place of my own to create whatever comes into my head! I think I might have actually squealed with happiness once or twice already. I never imagined the freedom I would feel to finally have a space that was all mine- painted the color I want, designed the way I want it, with things in it that are just for me... most people have an office where they work or something similar but being a stay-at-home mama, having a space only for you and your thoughts is key to survival. Now I know this. Food. Water. Shelter. Studio. = MUST HAVES for me. Ru is learning the parameters of my studio as well, she understands the idea that this is sacred space where things and people must be handled with care, and I think she gets excited to watch me do my thing in here. So fellow Mamas- get yourself a studio, an office, a corner or coat closet (you can have one of mine!), but find a place in your life that is just for you to think, to do, to breathe, to be. It's crucial. And such, SUCH a joy.

Here's the latest picture of one of my biggest joys, performing her first Flower Girl duty at Jennifer's wedding. I could eat her up. Ru will also be the flower girl at her Tia's upcoming wedding in 2 weeks.