Boldly towards the Unknown: Moving

It's been a while and here is my excuse: My family, being my parents and 3 younger siblings, are all moving from my home town of Albany, OR all the way to Fort Smith, AR. I think I've probably mentioned it before that I was planning a road trip and it is for this reason I've finally got around to posting.

Yesterday was a day filled with tears over moving away from good friends, family, and memories of childhood. For me, the only one not moving (though I am going on the trip), most of my tears were for the loss of time spent with family and how helpless I felt - I hate nothing more than seeing my family cry and there is nothing I can do about it. Walking through the empty house was difficult for me too because I remember moving into the house 16 years ago.

Our empty living room on the last day

I remember watching my siblings grow up, my mom working hard to turn it into a dream home, and my dad coming along side each of us to help us through life. I remember all the nights of trying to quietly play games in the basement, such as sardines or nerf gun wars, while my parents slept upstairs. Or the times my sister and I would dress up my brothers in our play clothes and my parents would have to do a double take to figure out which child of theirs it was. With all these memories in mind, I have to keep reminding myself that more good memories are to come and that no amount of distance will change that, it'll just mean something a little different.

While my parents have been active in preparing for the move the last few months, the movers didn't arrive until Monday. They packed all my families dear belongings into a massive truck they called a "moving van" and were finished by noon on Wednesday. Thankfully, everything else that we were waiting on (the family van being picked up for transportation, house papers signed, etc.) were all completed just before that, one after another. We were worried that we wouldn't be able to leave until late Wednesday night. This would've meant that we would get to sleep in (since the first "activity" didn't open till 10:30am) but we wouldn't get into our second hotel until after 10pm. As I said, though, everything was done ahead of schedule and we were able to start early.

The moving truck in front of the house

Our first stop, in the opposite direction of the intended destination, was a family favorite - the beach. If you've ever been in my parent's house, you would know that we love the beach, with sea shells, lighthouses, and other beach-y stuff decorating every room. We checked into the hotel here in Newport, then went to our traditional dinner spot - Artic Circle. An odd choice, I know, but what you may not know is that my parents met at an Artic Circle, now closed, in our home town. We were able to meet up with some family friends there and we said our good byes to them, complete with more tears. If there's one thing I've learned from my Psych classes (on counseling), it's okay to cry.


First family pic from the roadtrip (complete with a blueberry shake photo bomb)

We headed back to the hotel afterwards for a quick rest before heading down to the beach. Just a short walk away, my parent's, one of my brothers, and I watched the sunset on the beach, perhaps for the last time (for my family; once I return, I'll still live only an hour away). It was a bit chilly but nothing out of the normal for Oregon. Finally, we got into our pajamas, made our calls/ texts/ skypes to old friends and went to bed. An exhausting day but a necessary one. As my brothers pointed out, it's been too long since we've gone on a family vacation, making this one very bitter sweet.

Our roadtrip begins: Today we head off to another family favorite - Sandmaster park - where we will go sandboarding for a few hours and my dad's dad will hopefully visit (he lives in Florence). Then on towards my mom's favorite Oregon lighthouse, dinner in Brookings, a dance across the border into California, and on towards our next hotel in Arcata. We should be getting in around 8pm but we're not going to rush anything. You can also follow our journey on my mom's blog.

I end this with a thank you to all the family and friends that have come alongside my family in this difficult time. Living in one spot for multiple generations and then getting up and moving across the states is a difficult one and they wouldn't have been able to get through it without all of you. To name a few - Tim (Clarke's best friend) who spent the last few days with us, helping in any way we needed him. Josh (Jazmyn's boyfriend) who took her away from all the hubbub and kept her busy, taking care of her in only the way he can. All of Blake's friends (too many to name, my goodness) who invited him to their houses and came over to ours, reminding him how much he is loved. And all those who showed up to the open house to say their farewells, it no doubt put my parents at ease and reminded them that they will be missed. Thank you all.