On Leaving Pennsylvania

In two weeks our moving truck will be pulling away from our house to make its journey to our new home in Texas. Thinking about how different our life will be a month from now is a bit surreal. Our time in Pennsylvania has been good to us on many levels. We’ve got the kindest neighbors we’ve had thus far next door. We live in a quiet neighborhood where I hear the birds sing every day.

My sweet kiddos have met the best friends they’ve had so far in their lives. We’ve a settled in and called it a home. Leaving feels bittersweet almost.

While Pennsylvania might not be my favorite place I’ve ever lived, there’s something charming about it. It’s the history deep within its bones. It’s the lush green trees and grass.

All the while it’s a little sad to go, the excitement of a fresh start kind of feels refreshing too. There’s been an unspoken heaviness that Pennsylvania has had. It’s not the state itself (although the regular cloudy weather doesn’t help) but rather where life had us when we moved here.

At first moving here was a bit of an adventure across the US. Then a month into living here we got my grandmother’s cancer diagnosis and the first four months of our time here was me asking God why he placed me across the country. Next it was being a day late arriving to be at her side and me getting past that loss.

We did welcome our sweet C here in PA. That in and of itself was worth our time here. I will admit I spent a good amount of time wondering why God timed it so that we welcomed him clear across the country away from family. But our boy is by far the best thing to come out of PA.

Since we said goodbye to Rudy in June, the routine of life just hasn’t felt the same. Our Millie girl is still so sad and it’s been a month now. Loss is hard when you lose the companion you’ve consistently every day since you were brought home as a pup.

We’re sad to say “see you soon” to our friends here. Honestly they are the hardest part about saying goodbye to Pennsylvania. I didn’t expect to find community here but we did. I’m so grateful we found them and sad we won’t see them all the time anymore.

All the while, Dallas feels like a new chapter. Almost like it’s time to close it, gather up the lessons from here, and start fresh again. There’s a bitter-sweetness about it all. Our most recent trip gave me even more peace about our new upcoming life in Texas. It was only a matter of days that I felt at ease in our new surroundings. I felt confident driving around getting to new places, navigating the highways, etc. It honestly kind of felt like we’d live there before. I’m struggling to explain how it felt.

In two short weeks a new adventure begins. Until then though, we’ll be prepping and spending what time we do have here in Pennsylvania with the people that’s made this place feel like home — even if it was for just 20 short months.