Moving
This week there is really one big thing happening in my life: I am in the process of moving to Albuquerque. Well, it’s a slow process that started a few weeks ago with finding a new place to live. I love to travel because it lets me explore new places and reminds me of how things are both different and similar in other places. Moving provides those things too in a much more in depth way. To be fair, I’m not moving that far. It’s less than 100 miles from my old house to the new one. In some ways, it feels like it’s a world away. The population of Socorro is less than ten thousand. The population of Albuquerque is over half a million.
I’ve spent a little over ten years in Socorro and while it definitely feels like it’s time to move, I’ve become comfortable there. It’s very much home to me. There’s that saying that familiarity breeds contempt, but I’m not so sure that’s the full story. Things we’re familiar with become things that we love just because we’re used to them. (People like songs they’ve heard before better than something they’re listening to for the first time.) I’m so very familiar with everything in Socorro: it makes it feel like mine. The places I go walking feel like my territory.
Moving is one of those big life changes that even though it’s positive is still stressful. I’m excited to be moving. I like my new place and am looking forward to city life. So many things that a lot of people probably take for granted seem so cool to me: having a choice of grocery stores to go to including some health food stores, being able to go to the hardware store late in the evening, having things to do on a Sunday and restaurants that I haven’t eaten at dozens of times.
The process is a bit overwhelming if I think about the big picture though. I still have so much to move and a lot needs to be done before my old house will be ready to sell. Like so many other things in life, if I break it town into little pieces, it’s all very manageable. Each step that I take care of makes me feel better about the whole thing and the next step becomes obvious.
I admit that I just feel a little bit unsettled. I like routines. I like waking up knowing what to expect. I like for things to stay the same. Of course, I like excitement and change too. It’s just that I like it in slightly smaller doses than what I’ve had lately. I know that soon enough I’ll be settled into my new place and I’m looking forward to that.
