Thursday, May 30, 2013

Why Did You Move?

At least once a week someone will ask us what brought us to Colorado. It is both a hard and an easy question to answer. In some ways it would have been so much easier to say "my husband was transferred". Then you can kind of blame the company as the bad guy and just tell the kids, "We had to move." But we actually CHOSE to move which has pros and cons. Best off- it means we got to PICK where we wanted to live. But the harder part was that when the going got tough and l or o would ask, "Why did we even have to move anyway? Everything was fine in Denville", I did not have a nice simple answer like: "Daddy's work told him we had to move."

The simple answer was that we were looking for a better quality of life- less rushing, more enjoying. But now that I have moved and met others who moved for the same reasons, I can see that even the better quality of life reason was not the main reason we moved. Some friends and family took this move personal, as if we were moving because they were not a good enough reason to stay. I realize one thing they do not know about me if they feel this way: I just had this nagging feeling that NJ was not where we were meant to be. For us, there was just this need to move. I loved my days in Denville but I just knew there was more in the world and I wanted our family to see it. And I knew I did not want to wait until retirement to move.

It is really interesting how many other transplants I have met who moved here for the same reasons we had.... Just had this pull. Some people gave in right out of high school. Some came after college. Some came like us pretty far into life. And others yet came out after retirement. But all of us had this pull to come here. And as a result I feel this neat mix of a bunch of kindred souls who all found their way here one way or another and now we already have that in common.

So to answer the question- why did you move! It was just something we had to do. What I would say is if you feel perfectly content where you are, by all means stay there. But if a voice keeps saying- there is more, then follow the quote below and follow your heart. It won't be easy. And it won't be smooth. But it WILL be worth it!

2 comments:

Helen said...

Lovely, inspiring post!! I'm so glad that you found what your hearts were seeking!

Karen Lakis said...

I love that quote. I have a feeling your move will fit your lifestyle well - it takes guts to follow your dreams.