Monday, February 27, 2012

We're Here



We dreaded the move for months before it happened. It was a downgrade, for one thing; we were going from a four-bathroom, five-bedroom house to a three-bathroom, four-bedroom one. Beautiful Cousin and Pie would be obliged to share quarters and Powell, home while he awaits deployment in the Marines, would have to shuttle back and forth between mine and Thomas's chambers. It would be cramped.

Beyond that, we'd become settled in our Mountain Town home. After living as veritable nomads for most of my adolescence, Our Family had remained in one residence for a full six years. It was an unusual and somewhat welcome feeling.

On reflection, though, it was also a bit unnerving. Several bloggers have left comments telling me how sorry they are that I've had to constantly move, but moving is all I've ever known and it's what feels normal. From the time I was thirteen I've been mystified by, if on occasion envious of, those young people who spent their whole lives in one house, attending school with the same cohort of friends from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Is that typical? What could that be like?



Perhaps our background explains why, despite all our remonstrances and worries, once we'd actually moved we were just happy to have done it.

"Did you notice that it feels more normal to be throwing our stuff into boxes than it feels to just like, live somewhere?" I asked Thomas as we carted our possessions into the new house.

"Yeah," my brother laughed. "Is that weird?"

Before taking up residence we swore to hate the new house with undying vitriol, so naturally we'd started to take a liking to it within several days of moving in. It's old, to be sure, but built well; in 1790, when the home was constructed, there were no flimsy windows or prefabricated construction parts. Things then had to last, and they were made to.



In fact, though I'm loath to admit it, this home (which we've taken to calling "the Farmhouse," though it has a more august official title) is preferable in many ways to the one we left. Its high-ceilinged rooms with their hardwood floors and hand-carved marble fireplaces have an Old World charm and its rural setting appeals to the more romantic side of my nature.

In this place, a mere two miles outside of Mountain Town proper, our lives are ruled much more by the elements. Beyond the well lit circle of wagons that is a modern cul-de-sac dusk signals a warning to head for shelter. Those left outside once the sun has retreated are at the mercy of the animals, namely coyotes, that crawl upon our hard brick walls at night.

And what an experience night is. We suburban denizens, with our street lamps and dozens of neighbors, forget the totality of night that our ancestors long knew. Night here isn't a hazy sky hidden by lamps or a time when teenagers stroll across smooth streets. Night is an abyss, a desert of darkness punctured only by the white moon and the startlingly bright stars.

It's kind of cool.



So I'm enjoying myself. I'm enjoying the house. I don't know how long I'll be here, of course. My parents aren't planning to stay more than a few years and there's always the hopeful possibility I'll be offered a job before they've started thinking about where they'll head next. That means, I guess, that I should be ready to leave at any time.

Some things never change.

9 comments:

Arizaphale said...

Gotta say it looks like you've scored here!! I have friends who used to live out in the bush here in Aus and the thing I remember most about staying with them...was the stars. Vast tracts of stars. Insane.

laura b. said...

Sounds and looks quite lovely! I'm glad you have found pleasure in the adventure of pulling up stakes and moving on.

Anonymous said...

Looks pretty good. I think I've said it before, but I moved a fair amount, too. I've shared rooms with brothers, and infant sister...so I know what cramped is.

But living in the country, or at least not in the city, is a blessing in my mind. It's so nice to go to bed without traffic noise!

Hope the place continues to grow on you, at least until you find a great job and a place of your own.

Peace <3
Jay

naturgesetz said...

That looks like a very fine house.

tattytiara said...

It's lovely, and I'm happy to hear you're enjoying it! Our species is nomadic for a loooooooooooooot longer than it has been sedentary - in the broad scope of history you guys are the normal ones!

Bijoux said...

I'm one of those weirdos that lived in the same house from K-12. Oddly enough, my parents then moved 4 times in the next 14 years.

Sue said...

I just told someone that my kids lived in 3 towns and 5 houses before going off on their own (which means my daughter has now lived in 4 towns). They did actually go to school in one town, we moved there when my son was in the 1st grade and left a week after my daughter graduated. They feel homeless and so do we really. I love the change of a different house, but I do envy those with the same friends and support system that they have had since they were kids, we don't have that. Every time we build a life, my husband gets transferred. Such is life I guess.

I'm glad you like the house. The dark would freak me out!

jo(e) said...

It looks pretty beautiful. (It's larger than the house my family lives in -- and way bigger than the house I grew up in.)

Andrea Martin said...

Wow!Congratulations! My family also moved out last week. We used some loans like payday loans and house loans to have our new house since we are expecting a new baby this coming June. :)