Sally at the RevGals has some big moves ahead soon, and offered a timely Friday Five on the subject.. ALL IS CHANGE.... and although I am looking forward to it, it is not without a sense of trepidation, as change always brings challenges. Changing location also means packing, so next month will be a month of clearing and sorting, deciding what comes and what gets left behind... So with change in mind I offer you this Friday five; ( if you've never moved here's a chance to use your imagination)
1. A big move is looming, name one thing that you could not possibly part with, it must be packed ?
The piano. I don't play it nearly as often in reality as I do in my imagination...but I couldn't begin to imagine life without it. My father was given in some time in the 1920s, when the wooden framed instrument on which he had begun to learn exploded during an unexpected heat wave. My earliest memories are of the sound of Mendelssohn Songs without Words and Chopin Nocturmes drifting through from the sitting room as he played to wind down after the working day...I suppose that piano represents my childhood and my parents now, as well as the music that waits within it to be released. Thanks be to God, it's an upright - so it has never been an impossible challenge to move it.
2. Name one thing that you would gladly leave behind
Let's dream here...My own inability to keep control of administrative task can stay right here. As can the miserable filing cabinet in which I fail to file things!
3. How do you prepare for a move a. practically?
Well, last time we moved, I prepared by running away! I left Training Parish on Easter Sunday, and departed for New Orleans and the first RevGals Big Event on the Tuesday...Not the best way to do it if you want your family to love you, - but it does have quite alot to recommend it all the same. Beyond that, I do try hard to purge all unwanted junk. The last move featured a joyous shredding of all paperwork pertaining to the training parish...The one before a far less enjoyable disposal of extraneous toys that were just not exciting enough to save for future generations. It felt, then, as if I was also disposing of my offsprings' childhoods :(
b. spiritually/ emotionally?
I tend to go into rabbit in headlights mode. I HATE goodbyes, so the thought of leaving anywhere will always reduce me to tears, even when I'm really excited about the next destination. So my preparation is pretty much of the head-in-the-sand, wake-me-up-when-there-are-no-more-endings variety
4. What is the first thing you look for in a new place?
I'm assuming that this is once the removal van is unpacked,-that we're not looking at why we might have moved to the area in the first place.
So important things in adjusting to a new area are...
A really good place to walk the dogs
A large expanse of water
A Chinese takeaway (who wants to cook in the aftermath of a move? not me!)
5. Do you settle in easily, or does it take time for you to find your feet in a new location?
Superficially, I settle very easily. I love turning a new house into home, learning a new neighbourhood, growing into a new community. But when I broke my arm this year, I realised that I'm gradually moving further and further away from friends...and that as we are all chasing our tails in frenzied mid-life activity, it's really hard to make time to see each other.That's really not good news
When the children were tiny, I decided that I needed at least one friend within easy drop-in range for every half dozen dear BFFs living at a distance. That's still true, but not something you can manufacture overnight. I need people to laugh and cry with...then I'll feel really at home.
The bonus for today; a new opportunity has come up for you to spend 5 years in a new area, where would you go and why?
Oh help! I really don't want to go anywhere at the moment...Can I postpone for a bit? Then I think I'd like to spend some time working with ECUSA. I'd get to be closer to a whole lot of friends, I'd have time to explore at close range what a church that expects more of its members than Sunday attendance...and when not working, I'd get to see the wonders of a continent that offers so much, from sea to shining sea.
Come see me in Maine when you're ready, a very nice Episcopal church is just 3 blocks away, the river 2 blocks, the ocean just a couple of miles. And we have a guest room!
ReplyDeleteLove your play! I told my father that when he died there were just two things I wanted: the piano and the canoe. I have similar memories of music at his hand when I was young (thanks for that nostalgia!).
ReplyDeleteSo glad you still play the piano. We have a piano that my two daughters (but not two sons) learned to play, but now it is idle.
ReplyDeleteGreat play! And amen to the piano. WH has a grand piano in the city where he grew up just waiting for a place to put it! We're hoping this new home is that place! I love your recollections of music played in your childhood.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to having moved. I'm not looking forward to moving. I had enough of it as a child, and one of the things I'm looking forward to is being able to put down roots and settle a bit... one of the things I dislike almost as much as I dislike moving is the feeling of knowing I'll only be in a place for a year or two or three before moving on. I make a lousy nomad.
ReplyDeleteI've been very blessed by my friends for the last few moves. They really have moved heaven and earth in more ways than one in order to make sure I and all my worldly chattels were transported adequately.