Close Quarters

Friday morning, the movers came... and right before the bus pulled up, both kids broke down sobbing, in tears, losing their shit.  It broke my and Brendan's heart.  Chris has made comments here and there how he didn't want to move, but never showed emotion.  Addie, my easy, breezy, piece of cake child had been go with the flow up until that moment- and to see her so crushed was awful.  Thank God the bus pulled up, they wiped their tears and hurried off to school.

Children are so resilient.  They amaze me.  Knock on wood, they are handling this move like champs.

After swimming, they came home to their new home... their apartment.  I expected to see more tears, but instead, they both ran in, checked the place out, and exclaimed that they like it!  Hallelujah! Chris looked at me and said, "Mom, this is really nice- I thought you were going to take us to some raggedy place, but I like this." 

We've got this.

Short term sacrifice equals long term rewards... That's how my mathematician husband puts this journey into perspective.  I, on the other hand, tried to relate it to being in college- and my best friend oh so politely said, "Yep, have fun in college with three kids!" Ha!

When we were packing, we filled our garage not once, but twice with things to donate.  I would look at it and realize- Life is full of stuff.  Look around, it's all just things and stuff.  Stuff that I somehow easily get caught up on.  And then you have a yard sale and realize even more that at the end of the day, things that were once precious to you are really just stuff.

Ya know, like Christmas presents you searched high and low for for the kids and they sit in piles in the garage and they don't say one word about them going to the trash.  Or your piles of Vera Bradley that you just had to have every time a new pattern came out... and you give them away.  Stuff, stuff, stuff. 

Living in the apartment, we have what ya need.  Pots, pans, beds, clothing, food.  No frills.  This OCD Mama is letting the kids have stuffed animals on their beds, we have mismatched towels hung all over the bathroom, and we're drinking from our finest plastic cups.  And ya know what, we are a.o.k. 

Hell, Chris and Addie aren't even in a room.  Yep, we have a 2 bedroom with a loft.  One bedroom is filled top to bottom with storage... and we wanted to be on the same floor as the kids... so here's their new pad- that they share.:)

Welcome to the mudroom... AKA downstairs bath.  AKA outside storage area, AKA Brendan's uniform hub.  Yep, closet space is lacking, and we already received a citation for having something other than "patio furniture or flowers" on our deck... so we're making do.:)

 This is exactly what our kitchen looked like the first year we got married... almost 14 years ago!  Yep, same toaster, same set of knives... missing one or two. For years, these things have hidden in my cabinets because they didn't "look good" sitting out.  I'm letting go people, letting go.  For now, anyways.:)

Our bedroom, and Queen Elle's nursery... If she's upset, I'm only a toe away, I can almost touch her.:)  And she's sleeping like there hasn't been a change in the world. 

 

Sure, we've had some hiccups.  Yesterday, they tested the fire alarms all morning, we are right by the dumpster and on trash day, there is definitely a stench, and I'm still afraid someone is going to stab and kill me every time I run my bag of trash over there at night.  The washer and dryer are half the size of mine and sound like an airplane taking off... But ya know what, they do the job.

 

The kids have also have had a few first world problems..,. Like when Chris looked at me and seriously asked, "Really Mom, how am I supposed to get water?"  He was clearly dumbfounded the fridge doesn't have a water dispenser.  I gave him a quick lesson in how to turn on the spicket, and then realized... these kids don't know how good they have it.

 

So, our situation isn't ideal, but I'll keep it real for ya through this whole process.  At the end of the day, Home is where your heart is.  And I have mine all right here with me. In fact, this place is nice and I'm enjoying it... No yard work, if something breaks it's not my problem, and we won't be spending money on yet another "Shelley project." We just may be in college... so pray that I don't kill my roommates in the next six months.:)