After a long and tiring search, we recently bought a new home. We moved into our new home two weeks ago. 
While I love being in my new house, I have not enjoyed the moving process. I am thoroughly convinced that moving is for the young and that those of us who have passed the half-century mark should stay put. Or, as my husband suggested, we should change addresses without moving any of the stuff–simply leave it all behind and buy new stuff to be delivered to the new house.
As my knees creaked and my back ached from packing boxes and hauling them up and down stairs, I comforted myself with the knowledge that the pleasure of living in the new house would more than compensate for the physical pain I was enduring. In my new house, I have a kitchen large enough to entertain my ever-growing family.
Steve and I can cook together without being in each others way. I look forward to preparing holiday meals in the new kitchen with my mom, sisters, and daughters-in-law. I can’t wait until my grandson and granddaughter are hold enough to sit at the bar and make cookies with grandma. There’s plenty of room for grandchild #3, due to arrive in late October.
The move was made easier by wonderful neighbors, both old and new. As we moved furniture and boxes into our new house, we were welcomed royally into the neighborhood. One neighbor brought us marigolds to plant in our yard, another dropped off freshly baked cookies, and a third gave us strawberries and lettuce straight from his garden. We very much enjoyed and appreciated our neighbors’ generosity.
Some neighbors have gone above and beyond. Twice since we closed the deal on the house, we have pulled into the driveway to find our lawn freshly mowed by our very kind next door neighbor Charlie. Our former, and also very wonderful, next door neighbor Susan offered to take any “stuff” we didn’t want to donate to her church’s garage sale. I’m sure she didn’t expect us to fill her garage. We were grateful to be spared the extra work of hauling our unwanted belongings to the Good Will. Susan even came over and carried much of the donations to her garage for us.
We still have much unpacking to do, and many more items to donate or throw away. But, all our belongings are in our new house and it’s starting to feel like home. While we will miss our old neighbors, we are looking foward to forging many new friendships with our wonderful new neighbors.
Susan's Reflections 