Next Transitions

 I’m not going to recap, that takes too long and there has been way too much that has filled the time since my last post. That’s my bad. I will say that we now have 2 children graduated (how did that happen??) and we no longer live in Yellowknife. Two years up in the great, vast North and we have moved on to warmer places. Also known as southern Manitoba.

We are down to 3 Floofs, 2 cats and a Doodle (it’s a long story), and it’s a much quieter household with just these guys. The beautiful thing about all of the moves we’ve done so far is that each one has been so unique. This one was no different.

We left Yellowknife before the end of June, the timeline worked the best for us, and this is the first move we’ve done as a family that we haven’t all moved at the same time. Hubby left first, and he oversaw the unload of the furniture and boxes. When the Girls and I arrived, we had less than 24 hours until Hubby had to leave again to travel for work. Smarty has been spending the summer in Nova Scotia at Basic Training, Sergeant joined us in Manitoba after he was done his diplomas up north.

 It’s been busy as we get everything ready to switch over to a new province for registrations, licenses, certifications, and everything. We’ve visited friends that were too long since we’d seen, we’ve taken advantage of living closer to some family we’ve never live close to before.

It’s been odd, settling into a new house without Hubby in the space too. And without all the Littles all at the same time, it’s been a very different time. But we’re getting there. Hubby comes home today and it’s going to be amazing having him home. Half of the summer has passed, but there is still a lot of time for us to spend until school starts for everyone.

These last couple of days I have had a lot of reflection, as often happens when changes happen. Our children are growing up into people I enjoy spending time with. The Boys are starting to find some direction for their futures. The Girls are learning how complicated growth can feel; that it’s possible to be both happy and sad at life changes, and that’s okay.

I have learned just how tired I am of unpacking houses; this is the eleventh home Hubby and I have moved into since the beginning, almost 21 years ago. I will likely unpack and settle into a few more, but for now I’m happy to be out of boxes (for the most part) and finding a summer groove. I’ve certainly enjoyed laying in the humid heat of southern Manitoba without worrying so much about deerfly, horsefly, blackfly, and whatever else likes to take chunks out of my skin up north. July started with a lot of rain followed by a lot of heat, and so we have really been appreciating the air conditioning in the new home.

The trouble with moving with older children at the beginning of summer is that they don’t know anyone in the new town. When they were little I would take them to the park while other parents of little ones were there and that’s how they’d make friends. That’s more challenging with teens. I saw a couple of girls walking by with a volleyball and suggested to Girlie and Monkey that they should go and say hi, see if they could play. Apparently, that’s not what they wanted to do (which I get, I totally understand). I know it can be hard for them, having moved as a teenager myself, and so we’re exploring churches in the area, both for a spiritual home for us and for a social group of people with similar values for the kids (the girls in particular, since they’re the ones who’ll be living here full time during the school year).

I’ve discovered there are two wolves inside me; one wants to be busy and find a job right away and fulfill that part of my life, the other wants to be a stay at home mom forever and putter with my crafting and baking for the rest of my life. I’m grateful my contract last school year means I have the summer off anyways, just waiting and waiting and waiting for my credentials to be certified in the new province. Nothing to do except wait for that. In the meantime, I’m getting ducks in a row for next steps in my schooling journey and being present for the kids as they work their ways through the transition of the move. I’m making plans with ideas I have to put work into the backyard and the basement, just to invest a little time and energy into the space. I have rearranged the living room 4 times so far, to see what configuration works and feels the best.

All in all, a pretty little town. I’ve started learning my way through Winnipeg and Steinbach, because we’re pretty much half way between the two. I’ve gotten a library card, we’ve explored the Rec Centre here in town. It’s really neat to see and hear the crop dusters as they buzz by, as we live maybe 2 blocks from corn fields in two directions. This is the smallest town the kids have lived in, and I think it’s going to be the perfect pace of life for right now.