The Nomadic Gene

My sister Jan and her hubby Lanny are in the midst of moving to  a new townhouse, so purging and sorting and storing are the current vocabulary words coming out of her mouth.  I have to confess, I get a bit envious.  Oh, I understand that moving is hard work, but it seems to stir up the nomadic gene that runs through my blood.  New places, new adventures.  My sister is only moving across town, but it is still exciting  

We moved a lot when we were kids.  Jan moved more than me because our dad died when I was just six and she was seventeen.  She went to 14 schools, which is unacceptable in anyone's life.  We were not "military brats" either.  Just kids with a dad who could not settle in one place for long.  A traveling salesman who mostly traveled, coming home periodically to say hi or pack us "up for another move. At age three, when I would say, "Let's go home", I meant the car.  We must have spent a lot of time in there.  I do not recommend this way of living for anyone, but it is part of my story.  Our story.  It is what it is.

One of our son-in-laws once asked our daughter........"Why is it when your parents hear some place new they say, "I wonder what it would be like to live there?"  Instead of VISIT there."  I think 8 years of military life and nearly 40 in the ministry set us up for a nomad life of sorts.  Our kids did not go to 14 schools, but too many schools I am sure.  They have a world view which is great, but they also have no "hometown" to return to when they visit the folks.

We have lived in this house now 14 years.  I have not lived anywhere that long in my lifetime.  In fact I had never lived anywhere longer than 7 1/2 years until we moved here.  It is a bit strange and I often have to balance the nomadic wandering gene with the idea of staying in one place.  I know I love traveling across the country in a car.  I guess that makes sense sconsidering our past.  

When I talk about my home as a child, I think mostly about where i spent the longest amount of time ~ 7 1/2 years in one town.  Still, it is not a place I go back to.  Our kids have pretty much settled in to their communities now, and their children will know the familiarity and security found in being raised in one place.  There is something to be said for that.  They find other ways to see the world!  

Do you have a place you go back to?  Have you spent your life in one community?  Are you like Dorothy who says...."There is no place like home....."   For our full time RVer friends, they are seeing the country while taking their home with them.  That seems ideal in some ways doesn't it.  Having your traveling and your home too.....kinda like having your cake and eating it too!  For me, home is where Joel is. Period.  I would love to be by our kids who are spread out east, west, north, and south from our location.  It does not seem meant to be.  I ponder what it will be like for them with their own kids.  So many grands will soon be embarking into the world and making their own way.  I wonder if any of them will have a nomadic gene or will they nest in their own communities.  Who can say?!

I no longer call the car "home" and I am very grateful for the community we live in.  But I am always ready for the next adventure!   Today I will suppress that nomadic gene, and I will be excited for my sister and listen to her "moving" vocabulary with a smile on my face.  In the midst of your purging, sorting, and packing Jan, enjoy the move......even if it is just across town this time.