how quickly a year passes!

Can you believe how quickly a year can fly? Here it is, July first. It has been a year and two weeks since we moved from Texas. When our year mark passed, I was so sad that I couldn't even mention it here on the blog, and I just had to take deep breaths and think about why it was so hard to deal with.

I think one reason I had such a hard time watching our year mark pass was that I had to accept that it was real. We are really here, and have been for a year, and will be for several more. I don't want to say that I dislike living in Michigan, or that my life is not enjoyable here. I do like Michigan and our life here is absolutely wonderful! But I would be lying if I said there are things that I don't still miss about Texas and probably always will. Here is a small list of some of the big and small things I miss:

1. My amazing friends. Just hanging out and talking with my girlfriends, watching our kids play on someone's lawn, or letting them make a huge mess in someone else's bedroom. The normal, everyday discussions we had and how much we had in common and how much support we felt from one another. I miss walking each morning with Alisha, discussing the minutiae of each day before, laughing at silly things and planning the future. I miss the closeness I had with each of these extraordinary women, and their influence on me to become a better person and a better mother.
2. Bootcamp! I miss pushing myself that hard--and the luxury of not having to come up with an hour-long workout myself.
3. Sonic. I know this is totally dorky, but there are some days when I would chew off my own arm in exchange for some mozzarella sticks and a Route 44 Dr. Pepper.
4. MY GARDEN. I miss growing broccoli, lettuce and spinach all winter. I miss making salsa in June and having two green bean crops each year. I miss the freedom to till up my own backyard, I miss my wonderful soil. I miss the experimenting with new types of seeds, the trial and error of it all.
5. Texas accents. I love that twang and miss the willingness to tell a complete stranger your whole life story that typically comes with it. I miss the warmth and good humor and congeniality that the average Texan has, the basic Christian goodness.
6. So many more little things it's impossible to name them all.

Then last week, I found this beautiful poem excerpt that completely explains how I felt last year, and still feel a year later, to an extent:

I was leaving the South
To fling myself into the unknown...
I was taking a part of the South
To transplant in alien soil,
To see if it could grow differently,
If it could drink of new and cool rains,
Bend in strange winds,
Respond to the warmth of other suns
And, perhaps, to bloom.—Richard Wright

Sometimes I wonder why I became so attached to Texas while Dave didn't. I think it has to do with Dave's work being not what he really wanted. He knew he was ready to move on almost as soon as he started the job, and for him, our 2 years there were just marking time until something better came along. For me, although there were things that I never got used to, after about 6 months, I settled in and put down real roots. I became more the person I wanted to be while living there, Jed grew and developed his personality there, our family had so many great experiences there. When we moved, I felt unceremoniously plucked from soil where I had grown so comfortable, my roots bare and cold in transit.

Now, a year later, the little plant that is my life is pushing out a few new leaves, my roots are tentatively drawing up moisture and branching out a bit. We are so lucky to live in a beautiful place, have a beautiful family and a life we enjoy. I know that by the time we are ready to leave here, I will feel like a comfortable, blooming plant who hates being uprooted once again.