An anniversary

It's been 10 years.

I realized this tonight as I read a facebook post from a friend of mine who's celebrating her 10th wedding anniversary this week.  At the time, she'd asked me to be a part of her wedding, and I would have loved to...except that I was moving to Chicago less than a week prior to her wedding date...

My, what a lot of things happen in 10 years.  I'm all in a reminiscing mood suddenly...

'Back then' it was film photography, not digital.  My aunt who helped me move planned such a fantastic week-long trip/adventure for us both, and I took tons of pictures along the way...But I don't have more than one or two of them scanned into the computer.  I do have them all compiled into an awesome (in my humble opinion) scrapbook-like album, and I need and intend to scan the rest, but 12-inch square pages take a bit longer to do with an 11x8 inch scanner...and there's...a lot...of pages...cuz I didn't toss very many of the shots I took...

I was 22.  Almost 23.  And of course at that age you think you can rule the world, right?  Whether I still think that or not (I'll leave that up to your imagination), I don't think that I would make a move like that now.  Mainly because I--now--understand the misery of being 'a transplant', and THAT...That I do not wish to do again.  Ever.  However temporary it may be, uh-uh, not if I can help it.  All through the getting-ready-to-move, during-the-move, shortly-after-arrival phases, there's that gloss of excitement over the whole thing, and it WAS exciting and a lot of fun--all the places to see and the people to meet, and the new things to do and interact with and be, all the introductions.  That first month was incredibly exciting and confirming for me:  A good apartment, one of the best jobs I've ever had, the absolutely best boss in the world, a solid couple of roommates met through 'coincidence', a boyfriend who became a husband a year later, a church home, and other smaller blessings besides.  All in a month.  Thinking back to all of that God-Provision held me hard and fast during the next few years, and I needed it...Because at some point a few months into the actual 'living' part of my adventure, I started to realize that (duh) all the super-close amazing friends or family I'd left behind weren't actually RIGHT there anymore, and I kinda also need new friends who weren't a 2-hour time difference away.  Being a quality-time type of person, that one was a doozy.  That one hurt.  I couldn't put it all on my to-be husband, after all!

It was 6 years before I felt that spark of kinship that had previously been so familiar.  Of course I knew people and liked people and people liked me, and I made friends, obviously.  A couple of the people from those earlier years have become solid friends I needed...but it took some serious time.  That was the part I hadn't...thought through, I guess I could say.  Most of my deep Seattle friendships have roots reaching back to middle school or early college, when people are all growing and changing together, becoming who they're going to be, and we don't even realize how deep a friendship has become until it's already there.  I don't think adult friendships form in the same way, even though we certainly continue to change throughout life...We're not all changing at the same pace, or all in a similar direction, or what have you, and it complicates things.

I have no interest in being a transplant again.  But I also absolutely would not take back these last 10 years.  Not a chance in the world.  I love my city;  it's home now.  I think I cried a little the first time I realized I could really feel that way about it, because that too was several years into the transplant process.  I love the people I have here, family and friends.  I am deeply grateful for what I have learned through this process, through living here, through interacting with the people I've met and/or come to know.  I've become a teacher, not just a teacher-wannabe.  I've danced and gotten paid for it.  I've grown in my faith and understanding, and taken on any number of new roles in any number of new places...who knew I would actually ENJOY volunteering in a church nursery??  I'm stoked about finally having my own home--and supposedly our new neighborhood is *the* most diverse neighborhood in the entire country.  The entire country!  I find the possibilities, if that is true, absolutely fascinating...It means there are a lot of other transplants living there right now.  Plenty of people to share stories with and to learn from.

10 years changes a lot of things...I'm definitely looking forward to the next 10!  

But man...10 years since my momentous life-change...The thought makes me feel a mite old... ;)