That old familiar feeling

When I was growing up, my parents were in the U.S. Foreign Service, so we moved every few years. By the time I graduated from high school (in India), I had lived in 5 different countries and gone to 8 different schools.

Among the diplomatic kids, there were kids who hated the moving around and tended to be very jingoistic and anti-anything-not-American (including the country they were in), and those who embraced the changes, learned how to be adaptable, and took advantage of the outrageous life experiences they were able to enjoy. My brothers and I definitely fell in the latter category.* While it was hard to leave friends and start over someplace new every few years, I loved seeing the world and appreciated what a gift my lifestyle was. In any event, adapting to a new place usually wasn't hard. Embassy schools are filled with people that move around all the time, too, so they know what it's like to be the new kid. The schools also tend to be quite small, so anyone new is immediately interesting. I learned quickly that if I made an effort to get to know people, it was easy to make friends and feel at home. (Ironically, the hardest transition I ever made was coming into a big American high school in northern Virginia when I was in 10th grade.)

Before every big move, I would experience sadness at leaving what was familiar -- including good friends -- but also excitement over what the new place would be like. There is something exhiliarating about being able to go someplace entirely new, with a fresh slate, and create a life.

When I came to Atlanta, I started to feel an itch to move after 4 or 5 years. It was very strange to me to not have a new place to look forward to. I didn't like it. But eventually, I settled down and became used to being in one place.

When the house went under contract, I was freaked out about moving. Everything seemed so overwhelming and scary. But now I'm starting to feel that excitement that I used to get when I was a kid. I'm going to miss my friends terribly, but I've got a pleasant flutter in my belly at the prospect of meeting new people and learning my way around a new community. Maybe I'll teach an adjunct class in education law at the University of Hawaii law school. Maybe I'll become a really good surfer. Maybe I'll finally get my SCUBA license. Maybe I'll have a baby and miraculously teach him/her to speak without a Hawaiian accent (*fingers crossed*). There are so many possibilities, and instead of feeling weighted down by the uncertainty, I'm feeling liberated.


* I have a theory that we, and the other kids in the "adaptable" category, were able to function as well as we did because our families were so stable and we had such solid relationships with our parents. The kids that hated their parents and had fucked-up family lives tended to be the ones that didn't like being overseas. The kids that had great relationships with their parents and siblings tended to take the constant change in stride, learn how to make new friends quickly, and have fun. I recognize that there is nothing particularly revolutionary or insightful about this theory, but I do think it's valid.