At the end of this month my family will be relocating from Syracuse, NY to Tampa, FL. I’ve hinted at some Big Changes coming our way and now I can finally tell everyone. My husband is being transferred to a different office and we couldn’t be happier. Syracuse was never home for us, partly because we knew this day would come eventually, and partly because we never felt like we fit in.
Living life in limbo- never feeling settled, never buying a home because you know you will be leaving it at an unknown time, and never investing in friendships for the same reason; these have been tough years. Both of my boys were born in Syracuse, one at a hospital and one in the home we currently live in. It will be bittersweet to leave the place they were born. But again, I never considered Syracuse home for us.
I had never moved states until we moved here to NY, previously I lived in North Carolina. The biggest move I ever made was from Salisbury to Charlotte. It wasn’t traumatic to move. Only after we found out we were expecting did the reality set in that my child would not have any family nearby. Now that we have two children it has been a struggle to live without a “village” and stay sane. The closest I have come to having a village has been my weekly Friday babysitter. She has come once a week for four hours a day since Fletcher was 21 months old. She has helped me learn to leave my children without feeling guilty. When my husband was out of town and I suffered an eye injury that left me unable to open my eye and I was in terrible pain she came and cared for the kids while I moaned in pain. (Seriously, an eye injury severe enough is worse than any pain I’ve felt before and leaves you utterly useless). Today I realized next week will be her last day with the kids and that is so sad for us both. I lucked out in finding someone I trust and she loves my boys.
We have been looking at homes for quite some time and finally settled on one that we agreed would be perfect for our family. Unfortunately the home is a “Short Sale” which means we may not even know if our bid was accepted for another 3-6 months. We’ve decided to take the chance and live in a hotel for a few months, then re-evaluate the situation in April.
I’m still in pretty heavy denial even though we have known for years this day would come. We’ve only known with 80% certainty that moving would be in the next few months since September, and only last month did we get the official timeline. What a frustrating 6 months this has been.
I think as a family we are excited. We are looking forward to having more family friendly activities to do and better weather to do it in. We are also hopeful that our family will actually visit us. Unfortunately there are no selling points to our town unless you like snow. Yes, it does hurt that practically no one came to visit us during our 5 years here except for my husband’s parents. Typically Syracuse is cold and covered in snow up to 6 months a year. Strangely, this year we have seen almost no snow. It’s like the city is mocking us for wanting to leave that white stuff behind and begging us to reconsider.
Many people see Syracuse to Tampa as a huge move, and logistically, it is. Things are getting increasingly complicated. We have 3 cars, a house full of stuff, and 2 kids. In my mind it isn’t as huge, geographically, because I felt like I never left North Carolina. I’ve already shaved off half the miles right there!
What moving means to DDL
Obviously I cannot continue working on DDL with as much fervor as I normally do. There may be many days between posts and my videos might not post every Monday as I am used to doing. Because I have known for a very long time I have been filming in advance, however, the date kept getting pushed farther down… I’ve got 5 reviews filmed but after that I don’t think I’ll be able to film in a hotel. If we are moved in earlier than expected I might not miss too many weeks.
I’ve also enlisted the help of some friends to fill in with a few guest posts. I hope my readers will enjoy a fresh perspective since I am quite the cloth diaper veteran at this point. I often forget what it felt like to know absolutely nothing!
Wish us luck as we start a new adventure!
See you later winter….. hello palm trees!
