I've lived in four different towns or cities in the past eight years. Some of them were a few hundred souls, some a few thousand and some a few million. Tiny places, big places. I've lived in a place with one, small grocery store with expensive food to shop at and I've lived somewhere where the food of the world was at your fingertips. I've lived in a one bedroom apartment, a two story house, a bungalow. And I was thinking about the future yesterday - where we might live in the future - would we ever live in a big city again? I grew up in a city, would my children have that kind of childhood? Or maybe we'd live on a farm, plants gardens, raise sheep (I like sheep, I'd be up for raising sheep...maybe not forever, but at least for a season of life) and be pastoral and quiet. Will we have the opportunity to downsize all of our possessions and move into an apartment without a garden again, a high rise, like friends of mine are doing right now with their four children?
It's all just wondering of course - we have a ministry here, and a home (a nice home, one of the nicer we've had) and it's normal for people to wonder about the future. But what really struck me wasn't the wondering, which is just for fun, what struck me was that all of these places have become the same.
When you live in one place for a long time, or in your childhood home or city, you feel as though it is the entire world. And when you move from there then the next place you live, it seems like a foreign country. Where is the grocery store, you wonder? What, I have to pay to do laundry? And everything, from the most mundane to the exotic, is exotic. It's the first time you really come face to face with the daily lives of other people and try to live like them. But as you continue to move around the fear leaves and the moves take on a different feeling. There's a sense of confidence in your ability to navigate the world. When you absorb the information that you'll be moving again, be it a few hours or a few days drive away, you calmly pull out the mental information What To Do When You Move, and you're off.
I can pack our house with my eyes closed. I know which packing containers work best, what to write on a box label so you aren't crying in the new kitchen that first morning and sending your husband out to find 'any caffeine at all'. I am confident in my ability to make a meal for five people that doesn't use a fridge or a stove or almost any kitchen tools. I know who to ask if there is anything for the children to do in town, I have 'rules for choosing a restaurant', in short, I'm a good mover at this stage.
And the places we move don't scare me anymore. There's still a rush of adrenaline when you walk out of the bedroom looking for the bathroom and it all comes back to you, don't get me wrong, but it passes quickly now. I don't really concern myself much with 'fitting in', because I know it will happen. I enjoy that first walk in the new neighbourhood - looking around, seeing what there is to see. Oh look, there's the grocery store! Let's take a peek inside to see what we've got to work with.
The places we have lived aren't actually all the same, of course. There's a lot of local flavour and plenty of differences. And I have preferences, obviously, because everyone does. I don't like taking my laundry to the laundromat for example, and I would rather have an outdoor space, but I'm flexible and I can make anywhere a home. What makes me happy at this season of life is that I can adapt, that the adventure of moving is an adventure and not a burden. Going to a new place is something to look forward to and enjoy.
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