JOSHUA 1:9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go.
We sat in the airport terminal waiting for our plane to arrive. It was spring in Ohio, and the afternoon temps were expected to reach maybe the low 60s. I sat next to my suitcase filled with all my possession, and I carried an ugly, stuffed purple pig in my arms. We were moving again, ready or not.
We packed bags many times in our lives, moving from South Carolina to Georgia to South Carolina to Florida and then Ohio. This flight carried us back to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. My dad had gone a month earlier to find a job and place for us to live. We were leaving Ohio after only two years and several months.
Things had not worked out too well in Ohio. The grass was not greener, and everyone of us had had pneumonia or other winter time ailments. My dad had even had his tonsils out at age 30. We sold our possessions and left because we could not make ends meet. The rent was too high for our small duplex, almost $600 a month in 1983.
Why were we nomads and always packing our bags, traveling everywhere every few years? My dad always wanted to find us better lives, it seems. The consequences of our nomadic live live with me to this day. I don’t have any lifelong friends. We moved too much for me to develop deep relationships with anyone. I have now lived longer in my upstate South Carolina home than anywhere else in my entire life. I have been with my husband now almost thirteen years.
The longest I lived anywhere as a child was three and half years. I went to six elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools. I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if we had settled in one town for my whole education career. I will never know though.
All the moves made me who I am and prepared me for what? I don’t really know. I just see the teenage girl in the airport in Ohio. I had such high hopes for so much with that move. It would surely be our last, I had thought. I would start a new high school, make lots of friends, and leave the past behind like discarded baggage, forgotten and broken.
This story was written for Two Shoes Tuesday
where the theme choices this week are ready or bag. It is also my eighth personal but the 112th installment of Just Write, an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments. {Please see the details here.}Also joining these hops:
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| I love a True Storycourtesy Vector |
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Ya that doesn’t sound fun. I am a weather enthusiast, so I would have to liked to live in different places just to experience the different weather, but I am happy to have lived in the same area my whole life. I’m sorry y’all had to move all the time. : )
Thank you for your lovely reminder that moving much does not change our goal for greener grass. As a child in school, I was planted in one place, but I can’t say I had lots of friends, Perhaps one or two neighbor girls then others in the neighborhood (not school mates.) Even in our small church I was in an age bracket all by myself, so I was given jobs to teach etc. No matter what our circumstances, we can be lonely and alone. I am so glad that Jesus is always beside us and is our eternal friend. In this day, we need boldness to reach out to others and become a friend. Thank you for sharing with us here at “Tell Me a Story.”
We moved constantly when I was a child. I went to eleven schools. I truly bonded to my animals, as they were constant friends. It was hard to move so much. God was there, that is how I survived.
An excellent post about some of the realities of your life, Mary. I also envy people who have life-long friends and a place they call home. My life didn’t work out that way either, but I have a home here in the blogsphere now, and real, caring friends here, and I have my home in Texas with John, just as you have your home with your husband in beautiful South Carolina. God has taken care of us, has always been with us. We may not have been ready when it was time to pack our bags and go, but we didn’t go alone, and we never will! What we have experienced brings us to who we are today, and I am just fine with that, I think you turned out pretty good too! :-))
Like Sir Old Egg, back when I was a younger, I thought kids who moved and transferred to our school were cool, because unlike them, I only get to see the place I was in. I didn’t know it was hard for them like how you described it.
Happy Two Shoes Tuesday from the Philippines! ;o)
We all come from that special mold designed just for us. It makes us who we are. And here I thought I had moved a lot (18 times), but I see you have moved so much more. My moves were often in the same region, so it allowed for some lifelong bonds. Hopefully, you are doing that now.
Alas, I am not. I want to but sometimes feel this overwhelming fear of failure. I guess that is for another post. I am praying through this. God is still working on me. Thanks for the encouragement.:)
I can remember when I was at school there were those kids that stayed for a year or so and moved on. I was almost jealous that their lives were more exciting than mine…almost! This a profoundly sad post and the attraction of being a nomad certainly palls when you hear of the reality. A poignant read.
I stayed put as a child, but then have moved around the world as an adult. Through all the moves, He has been with me! Thanks for sharing your story.
You described this experience so well – the longing to be in one place, and the effects of a life moving around so much .
Thank you. I am glad you see the whole picture of what I was trying to convey.
My youth – no my whole life – is so different, so settled, so unmoving. I’m sure your life has prepared you to be flexible, if nothing else. Mine has prepared me to like being where I am.