Packing

I haven't lived in my pretty house for even two years; not quite long enough to feel major upheaval as I pack and move, but still moving is significant and represents change. For me I think it means good change, as far as living closer to work and school, but also sad change, as I have grown to love and feel a part of this community of people I live with!

One of my roommates said to me the other day, "I'm old enough to know that people don't stay in touch very well when they move." I laughed at the time, that she would be "old enough" to know something like that. But I guess, when you are young, high school or college or whenever your first major changes begin to happen, you have all the intentions in the world to remain best friends forever with your group of friends. In college my friends and I assumed (joking, but wishing) we would all live in the same cul-de-sac and raise our kids together and I'm sure our kids would have intermarried and we would have become some sort of unhealthy religious commune. :)

In reality, I think I am still friends with one person from high school, and two or three people from college. It just never happens the way you plan. They are dear friends that are never replaced, who you have history with and who know you in ways that only longevity and journeying together can provide, yet they are few in number; new ones come along that know you differently, and know the new person you have grown into, who share current struggles and thoughts and areas of growth.

I'm alarmed at how easy it is to move into another stage of life and eventually lose all contact with the previous one. What makes ties strong enough that they withstand years and moves and major life events?

Today my mom and I will continue to pack up my belongings as I look forward to my new home. I have every good intention of staying in touch and visiting and sharing life with my current roommates; yet packing, and leaving, feels impersonal and as if I am cutting all ties. I am not the best at staying in touch; I let myself get too busy and preoccupied with current events. But I do hope that my flurry of packing and leaving is not the end of my time here.