FOR NOW

Plans sometimes have a way of changing from the original intent. As we spend days, weeks, and months preparing for events into the future, we believe things will go without a hitch. However, though we may not see it at the moment, life has other intentions for us.

Certainly, a change in our plans can cause a great deal of stress and impatience. We wonder why this is happening. Wonder when things will change to resemble a future closer to one we had in mind. At times it becomes unbearable and we start to wonder if we made the right decision, wishing we could turn back time and undo that which we had started.

Such was the outcome of our plan to move out of Austin, Texas. We spent months packing up all of our belongings. That in itself was a major miscalculation. In my thinking, we had just moved from one apartment to another smaller one, with not much having been unpacked. How could the rest of the items in the garage have taken us so much longer than anticipated to move into storage, I wondered, as weeks turned into months.

In the meantime, the job search was turning from one disappointment to another. And when I finally did get the job offer in the new state, I realised it would take us much longer to pack up. Which meant that the company was unable to wait. That happened two other times with two other employers.

Then came the issue with storage. Moving all of our belongings across the States was cost prohibitive at the time, due to my unemployment. We would simply have to leave everything behind until things got more settled. I calculated on one 10’ x 20’ storage unit. I’m not sure what I was thinking. My judgement was way off when we ended up have to get two more storage units.

The idea with us moving into a furnished apartment turned from excitement to despair as the guy cancelled our agreement after we could no longer pay for the following month. Money was being drained from all sources. At this point, we would be homeless.

The frustration mounted. The exhaustion was visible. Non-stop moving for close to three months. My son took time off school to help with the move. He packed up most of the garage, as I had no more energy to deal with that mess. When he informed the school that he was moving, we had planned to leave within a week. Two, at the most. He missed over two months of school, and another one when we moved and the new school was on a different schedule. Meaning he had to wait one more month to start the new semester.

And so, we headed on our long adventure up to the Northwest with only the things that could fit in our minivan. A drive that took us ten days as we stayed in one place for three days during Christmas and two nights at another place during the end of our trip.

The past six months have been a challenge as we experienced things which were out of our control. In the end, we finally found a small place where we could settle down. One we could call our own. For now. Until the next adventure.