So we’ve signed a contract to sell the house.  We’re working on the creative financing that will allow us to move.  We’ve met the middle school teachers.  I’m really, really tired.  There are too many things going on that I wish were over, and too many I wish weren’t starting.  Now that the contract is signed, the reality is setting in, and the guilt. . .friends and neighbors and teachers (I volunteer a lot in the elementary school) saying how much they don’t want me to leave.  This triggers some strange thoguhts and emotions (“Why are you guys upset?  I’m not moving far, I’ll be back!” and “Seriously?  Miss >me<?  That’s weird.”)  I mean, I do fully expect to be visiting and being visited, and even though it’s not the same, it still doesn’t feel, yet, like I’m really moving away.  And while we’re moving for a lot of really good reasons, sometimes those reasons don’t mean as much when we’re trying to explain them to people who don’t want us to go.

It’s been a very, very long time since I last moved away from people who cared where I lived.  A really, really long time.  It feels strange.