"I wonder as I wander out over the land"

Since 2002 I have lived in six different locations not including month-long stints in a hotel and a college residence hall. Considering that I spent the first 19 (almost 20) years of my life living in one house with very little mobility or travel, this odd turn of events surprises and amazes me. I find myself "wondering" about life's odd turn of events, how each location has taught me something, and how I have lost and gained something from each location.

My first move away from "home" in 2005 I felt like a teenager leaving home and going away to college and quite incidentally I was going to work at a university. It was exciting, exhilarating, scary and painful. I felt a tremendous loss leaving my children, parents and friends behind; I missed them so much. What I gained was a wonderful sense of confidence (most of the time) and the realization that I could survive. I guess I knew in my heart that I would survive but the physical evidence of it was very affirming. At the beginning visits home to family were like very strange and difficult soap opera events; I had to figure out my new place in the changed family dynamics and I think my family had to figure it out, too. It felt very odd to be going through this process in my 40s instead of my teens which is how it usually happens.

I hope to make this blog a narrative of my discoveries/struggles/etc. of my wonderings and wanderings. Wanna' come along on my trip?

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