The Final Countdown

The Star family can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and we are moving forward!!  If all goes as planned, we will close on the sale of our house out in West Texas by the end of this week, and be moving on to our new life in East Texas by mid-April.  It has been a rollercoaster ride getting through the transition between West and East, but we can finally see the end.

One day, I'm going to look back on these days and smile with fond memories, but right this moment, I hate that we are 2+ months into being apart.  By the time we move, we will have been separated for 3 1/2 months.  I know how fortunate we are that we have only been apart that long, but in the moment, it can sometimes feel like an eternity.

So, how have we managed?  Well, Bunny and I have been living quite a comfy, cozy life thanks to my parents' hospitality and their generous house.  We share our own bedroom and bathroom on the complete opposite side from my parents' room, so we have as much privacy as we possibly can while living under someone else's roof.  For the most part, it is much like our life in West Texas during the day, but every night brings lots of love and help from Papaw & Mimi.  There is also a lot more to do here including the park, a safe neighborhood to walk in, and LOTS of shopping.  The only thing that has been missing from the equation is my MM and Bunny's Da-Da.

MM moved on up to our new city to start his job and he really, really loves what he's doing.  By the grace of God he was given a free place to live until we get a house up there.  Unfortunately, that free place is a small travel-trailer on the property his office is on and it doesn't have hot water or anything besides a microwave to cook with.  He is getting by, though, and putting his best foot forward for the sake of our family and his new job.  He will be rewarded with a lot of hot, home-cooked meals and as many hot showers a day as he wants when Bunny and I finally get up there. 

After closing this week, we still have the small task of finding and securing a home for us to live in, but we aren't buying right now, so all we need to do is get through the rental process rather than waiting for offers to be accepted, inspections, closing, and etc.  Our plan is to move in to our new place in mid-April and I cannot wait to have our own space, use our own stuff, and snuggle in with MM every single night.  I imagine that our first month or two in our new home will be very quiet and lazy as we try to get settled in and get a rhythm going.

That's it for us right now.  To be honest, life is a bit of a blur as we just try to keep busy so that the days pass by quickly.  I'm perfectly fine where we are right now because I know that we are all safe and taken care of, but I am also counting the days until we are all living under one roof again.  We have 33 days to go, just in case you're wondering.

Changes

Three plus months.  That's how long it's been since I've been here.  A lot has changed since then.  Let me tell you about some of it.

Fall flew by in a blur and was punctuated with job applications, phone calls, interviews for MM, and a yearning by both of us for the next big thing in our lives.  We trusted God in His timing, but knew deep in our hearts that our time in West Texas, the little town of Alpine, was short.  We spent time with family.  We celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving with low-key, relaxed festivities where we just enjoyed life and where we were.

We spent time on the road, traveling for a job interview that just happened to take place 30 minutes away from my parents' house.  We enjoyed more family.  We soaked in the "civilization". 

Then, a phone call came.  There was a job offer.  There was an acceptance.  There were two and a half weeks of frantic packing, planning, getting a real estate listing going, and trying to catch our breath.  And then, we said goodbye...7 years to the day after MM and I officially started our journey in Alpine.  (I wasn't part of that move, but that's another story for another day.)

  

As I sat on that front porch with my sweet family for the last time, I realized that it was time to finally say goodbye, and it hurt, honest to goodness, it hurt.  It was our first home, our first really big purchase together, the home we brought our Bunny to right after she was born.  It was a cute, cozy home, full of laughter, love, its share of hard times, and family.  I will miss it.

And now, we are moving on.  MM has accepted a new job doing what he loves, working with Texas Wildlife through his expertise in Geographic Information Systems.  (What a smart guy, huh?)  I may have to find him a new monicker.  "Mountain Man" doesn't seem suitable in the Piney Woods of Texas.  "Wood Man"?  "Swamp Dude"?  "Buff Bayou Babe"?  Well, I'll think of something.

Bunny and I are camping out at my Dad & Mom's place in Central Texas and MM is living in a travel trailer out on some land near his office.  This will be the arrangement until we sell our house or until we get desperate and move into a studio apartment in our new city just so we can be together.  We are about 4 hours apart, so he comes home to us on the weekends.  We have been here two weeks and both of his weekends home have occurred right in the middle of the flu epidemic in our family.  All three of us had it and we are going to make up for lost time this weekend! 

We are enjoying as much as we can our current situation and very much looking forward to our future in our new East Texas city.  It promises to be very fun and very exciting.  Oh, have I mentioned that I have never even been to this new city we're moving to?  Bunny and I are going next weekend for our first visit to our new locale and are VERY anxiously awaiting seeing where we're going to move to!

I can't promise I'll be here tomorrow, next week, or even two months from now to update you on our lives, but I will do my best.  I do miss blogging, even if no one but MM and my mom read it.  This new chapter in our life has us busy, busy, busy, but happy, happy, happy!