Monday, August 27, 2007

More of a Shaker than a Mover

Madhubby says I'm a mover. I disagree. In fact, we "disagreed" so heatedly that Bubba had to intervene, on Madhubby's behalf, with a plaintive: don't fight with daddy. But, dammit, when someone labels me as something I'm so clearly not, I've got to defend myself!

The average person moves eleven times in their life; I've moved twenty times. Madhubby has moved ten times - seven with me - and he's done. He wishes I would just pick a spot and stay in it, but I can't. I'm restless and I can't stay pinned to one place too long.

Oh, I have the best intentions but you know all that talk about the best laid plans. A town catches my fancy, we find a cute little house in which to settle down, and the rest should be history...but it's not. The neighbors are too conservative, the town is too far from the mountains, the commute is dreadful, the neighborhood kids are clique-ish and unfriendly. The list goes on and on. So, I start scouring the local stores for boxes, phone up a reasonably priced movers and we move on to greener pastures.

Still, it's not my fault people are strange and fake. I was not going to stay in a 'burb where the neighbors pressured us to attend church. We're agnostic, we don't go to church and we prefer to worship in our own way, so back off, I'd scream every time one of them came near us with rosary and a bible. We didn't make many friends there. But, c'mon, there's only so much religious browbeating a level-headed, thinking woman can take! If I weren't fielding religious questions, then I was dodging questions about my wahm status or, more aptly, why I chose to work at all. I knew it was time to move when the neighbors started pointing and whispering whenever we left the house.

Now, we're in a house we love, love, love but the schools - eh - not so much. I tried the neighborhood schools. It didn't work out, so we're at different schools this year. Different schools that are not within walking or biking distance to my house and that pains me. It pains me to gas up the car on Monday only to have it empty by Thursday. It pains me that the children cannot bring friends home on a whim or that every school activity has to be carefully planned and bundled with other activities in a nearby location so as to save on driving and gas costs. I'm done living this unfulfilled life. My emotional house needs to be in order and its not right now. So, we're going to move.

Madhubby wants it to be the last move. So do I. I want to be settled, but I refuse to settle. I would love to find another house we love and just stay. It's not going to be easy because we have a house to sell in a down market, but I think, with a little faith and some elbow grease, we should come out alright in the end.

No comments: