The Adventures of the Johnson Clan: An apology from me to basically everyone who knows me! :D

~If anyone reading this is like me, you love adventure and like positive changes; yet at the same time, you don't do well with change, big or small.~

In the 8 years Travis and I have been married we have moved 8 times. We've made simple moves from city to city in the same state. We have lived in a different country speaking a different language; we have also lived on the East Coast where everyone seems to have their own language and way of life. Now we live in the Mid West where we're experiencing yet another way of life. And sometimes change can be rough.

I think it's one thing if you move and jump into something structured, like a job; something that grounds you and gives you purpose to your day... it's a whole other ball game when you're just at home, and especially if you're at home with kids. There is so much that changes when you move! You have to figure out new routines, new stresses, new stores... it's so much more than packing/unpacking boxes and changing all your address information, paper work for utilities, internet, and getting new bank accounts! <-- Yeah, that doesn't sound like a lot! But I think even harder than the minutia of getting adjusted, is trying to figure out where you belong, or how you fit in....

... And if I stop to think how hard it is for me, a grown adult, to try and figure out my way around this new life we've once again dropped into... how hard is it for the KIDS to fit in. And then there's that anxiety and guilt that builds over feeling short tempered with the kids as they act out from the change. Feeling like a bad mom when they watch yet another movie because you can't seem to figure out what you should do instead. Or when they wake up in the morning, but you can't seem to pull yourself out of bed. It builds. Piles on. And then there's the added guilt of not being able to smile larger, or lie better when all the kinds people you're lucky enough to now live by asks you, "So how are you liking it here?" And all I can say is... something semi positive, laced with the undertone of negativity. What can I say? I am an honest person who wears her heart on her sleeve. When people ask me questions about how I'm doing I feel like they deserve the truth. YET there's the fact that we should focus on the positives, FaKe iT TiLl wE mAkE iT, don't burden others with our problems, we should be grateful to have the life we have, etc. IT GOES ON and ON and ON!!

So this is my major THANK YOU to all my friends, family, neighbors, and random strangers who have ever let me bend there ear and complain to them because it really is a part of my process in adjusting to change; I hope it won't always be, and I'm working on it, but THANK YOU in the meantime.

And I'm sorry also. And I hope that any of this rant helps you know where I'm at with the move. And If you're at that point --> you're not alone.

(Now Here are some highlights from the past two weeks)