We are approaching 7 months in Seattle and there is finally
a sense of familiarity. Our current lease is only 8 months, so we are moving,
yet again, in a few weeks. We’ve decided to stay in Capitol Hill, just move
about a mile north to the more ‘neighborhoody’ area. We have moved way too many
times in the past few years, but we are really excited about our new place and hope
to stay for a few years, Lord willing. It’s amazing how much expectations
change when you’ve spent some time in a studio. Our new place isn’t nearly as
nice but GASP! There are WALLS around the bedroom and there are THREE
whole closets in the apartment! Wowzers! And it’s significantly cheaper (cheap
for Seattle anyways). After this move, I
am going to adopt a great thought from a Humans of New York post I saw once. All
the man said was this: “I’m taking a break from setting goals.”
THAT SOUNDS AWESOME. Every time Seth and I reach a milestone
we’ve been working towards, it seems like minutes later we think, ‘ok, what next?’ Whether it was getting married,
finishing undergrad, getting me into PA school, what apartment should we get,
what car should we buy, where on the west coast should we move, etc., we’ve
ALWAYS been working towards something. No more goals for a while. A quote from
my favorite movie, About Time, explains it perfectly: “I
just try to live every day as if I've deliberately come back to this one day,
to enjoy it, as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary, ordinary
life.” Some people say, ‘your life
is such an adventure!’ and it has been a wonderful adventure so far. Undergrad
thousands of miles away from our families, marriage, PA school in a new state,
exploring just about every major city on the east coast, a cross country move
in a questionably reliable car in the middle of winter, moving to a city we’ve
never been to with nowhere to live and no jobs, starting careers, and also
sprinkle in there training for our first half marathons and a dog and cat, and
you’ve got yourself quite a few years jam packed with adventures. But you know
what, I’m a tad tired of adventures. I just want to enjoy every second of this
very extraordinary, ordinary, stage of life. Working normal hours Tues-Friday
finally doing what I love, living where we want to be, not necessarily where we
have to be, spending evenings not doing much besides getting a run in and
walking Cooper, reading fun books, and weekends backpacking or just lounging
around. Our 5 year wedding anniversary is approaching and this seems like an
appropriate time to do this. Granted we are in the process of planning a big
international trip in the spring (YAY!), but this is fun adventure! Not ‘life milestones/goals’
adventures.
I know one day we’ll look back on this phase of life wishing we
had just slept in more and traveled some, so here’s to soaking up every single
second of this extraordinary, ordinary phase of life and finally having time
(and money! Hooray careers, not just ‘jobs!’) to start doing our international
traveling we’ve been dreaming about. Praise God for giving us the energy to
persevere and finally reach this point. And Praise God for giving me Seth, who
makes all experiences, whether it’s a wonderful-lazy Saturday morning lounging
around or the 11th hour in the car driving across
flat-mundane-freshly fertilized Nebraska on day 5 of eating subway for dinner,
the best moments of my life.
