Bringing Mae Flowers

I bought a house yesterday.

It remains to be seen if this is a commitment I am ready for, but the papers are signed, and money changed hands, so It’s too late to back out now. Over the last month we’ve been slowly packing up the apartment for the move. We’ve been taking everything box-by-box and room by room, and I’m still feeling overwhelmed by the transition.

I’ve never lived anywhere longer than I’ve lived in my apartment.

I moved into my apartment in march of 2019 during my final year of college. Over the last 5.5 years, that apartment has been my home. It’s the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere, including my childhood home, which was a close second at 5 years. Moving from place to place, year after year (sometimes month after month) was the norm in my life until recently. Now I have to adjust to a new normal.

I’ll have to learn how to belong somewhere.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a hometown. What would it feel like to live in a place for decades? What is it like to get to know your neighbours and become part of a community? Until recently, I kept most relationships at the surface-level, because I always assumed that I would be moving on sooner or later. It was a strange way to live life, but that’s all I really knew. It was only in the last few years that I started to form bonds meant to last for a lifetime.

It may be the start of a new life.

We are only moving 20 miles away, but it’s far enough to create a whole new world. We are moving about a mile from my brother and his family, and just a few minutes from my Grandparents. We aren’t just close to family, but we are also in the center of a place I once called a “Hallmark town”. We are just a mile away from Main street which is filled with several locally-owned small businesses. One day, we hope to open one of our own.

It’s interesting to see where life takes you.

Last spring when I almost bought a house in the same area, I couldn’t take that step. I wasn’t ready then, and I wasn’t in my right mind (long story short- manic episode). After that incident I thought it would be years before I would be ready to take that leap. Now, here I am 18 months later, about the pickup the keys to our new home, and our new lives.