New gets Old or Back to the Hobbit Hole

I tried reading the Lord of the Rings books, starting with "The Hobbit". The beginning set in the adorable hobbits home in the beautiful Shire was lovely. Just lovely. Then they started off on this trip, or quest, or whatever and all I found myself thinking was, "When are they going back to the hobbit hole?" But, if you know anything about the books, they don't get back for a long, long, loooong time.
So I quit reading them.
From this I learned that home is my favorite, adventure is over-rated and familiar is better than unfamiliar. So what am I doing in a completely new setting where nothing is familiar and there is no way to go back home?
I'm tired of telling people where we moved from and why we moved. Sure, I'll buy the same scented Yankee Candle for fall (Spiced Pumpkin) but where do I put it? Everything goes somewhere I haven't figured out yet. Nothing is easy or routine, and that's getting old.
But I guess that's the deal, things can't become familiar or routine unless you do them, and keep doing them, then do them some more. Maybe this is a chance to set some new things in motion. To choose what will be familiar, routine, and yes, even mundane one day.
What about you? Anything you'd NOT put into today if you were just starting it?
Good, 'cause you get a new one tomorrow.

Happened in the Shower

It happened while I was cleaning the shower yesterday. This kinda feels like Home.
Raise your hand if you noticed I haven't blogged in several months.
Back in March we found out we might get the opportunity to move to Florida with a job promotion for Mike. However it took until May for that to be settled and then once the ball started rolling, it went fasterer and fasterer. We sold the house in eight days (I know, amazing) and found a new one. We lived in a hotel for a couple weeks and then moved-in here on August 2nd. During that time putting my thoughts down on paper (or computer screen) just wasn't happening. Too many things that couldn't be said or that I didn't want to say. One of the things I couldn't say for a while was that we're going to be grandparents, which is wonderful news. And then there's stuff happening with my writing, I didn't want to say. But more about both of those on another day.
Today is about that click in our heads as certain information tumbles into place. Like when you know autumn is coming. Or when, with just one look, you realize a couple is falling in love. Or the way we just know our kid is lying to us. So why does this house feel like home today? Was it cleaning the shower? Was it coming home late at night after a trip to Georgia on Sunday? Is it just the weight of facts that keep building, one after the other?
I've questioned my ability to KNOW things this summer. Questioned it deeply and with many tears. But once again I believe I have to trust that I do KNOW sometimes. I really do.
Do you?

Moving is Scary!

Yep, we're hitting the road and moving to Jacksonville, Florida. We're so excited. . .
And sad.
We've loved our twelve years here and have some amazing friends. Our kids are fairly close by and we love our house (and the pool, of course). But. . . the adventure calls to us. It feels right.
And you want to know how blessed I am? Our friends and family are excited for us. In the midst of Daddy's health problems, I didn't like telling Mama we were moving six more hours down the road. Yet, first words out of her mouth were, "What a great adventure!" She'll never know what that did to let us relax and enjoy this move.
And that's the kind of parent I want to be. A parent who meets every opportunity my kids face with enthusiasm and joy. That's the kind of friend I want to be, the kind of wife I want to be.
Making it easier for those close to me to seize the adventures opening up to them sounds like a worthy goal to have.
But it also sounds pretty scary.

Tis the Season!

Seasons really get to me. They dictate the candles I burn, the colors of my clothes, my shoes, my perfume, how the house is decorated, what I cook, and more. If I smell a cinnamon candle in the spring it just seems so wrong. So very wrong. Or to wear lavender in the fall - shudder. I even have trouble looking at those purple mums mixed in the rust and gold mums in fall displays. And as for music, I can only play Jimmy Buffet if it's summer weather. My brother says he needs it in the winter to get him through, but steel drums in December makes my skin crawl.
So this shot of fall weather here the first week of September is making me antsy. It's not time yet and I'm afraid I'm going to get into a fall mood and then it will be 90 in a week. I did just check weather.com and the 10-day forecast remains autumnal.
When we lived in Jacksonville,FL, autumn was manufactured. The grocery stores would pile up apples, pumpkins, gourds and indian corn AND turn down the air conditioner. Even the office buildings would turn the air down so it would feel colder. (I'm not making this up.) That way everyone could wear their fall clothes. Men would don tweed sport coats and women would pull their sweaters to the front of the closet. Now in Tampa, it was just tropical, so there was no pretending there were seasons. Air conditioning stayed on, because it was hot outside.
In Chicago - well, summer was the season we manufactured by pretending we weren't cold all the time.
Interesting to have lived many places and have different experiences. It's a wonderful world out there!
I think I'll get my fall purse out of the closet - maybe.