A Moving Life

Today, we're moving again.  We've been here in Falls Church, Virginia, exactly 13 days.  Just long enough to fight over rooms (the kids all wanted the walk-in closet as their "very own room"), put our giant world map up on the wall, figure out the strange moods of the dishwasher, and have four service calls (apparently our appliances were exhausted from all their work with the previous tenants and weren't excited about continuing on with us).

But today's move is only to the building next to ours, from our two-bedroom in building C to a three-bedroom apartment (yahoo!) in building B. It shouldn't be too bad as far as moves go since we still only have the stuff we brought with us in our suitcases, along with all the "essentials" we've accumulated from a few trips to BJ's (local Costco knock-off) and Target, although the 6 inches of snow that arrived yesterday will make it a little more tricky.

In our 13 days here, we've broken in our new shoes fairly painlessly.  We arrived on a Friday and enjoyed a homecooked meal in our new apartment that night (thanks to the small and ridiculously overpriced but convenient store on the apartment premises).

Sunday we went to church (twice, but that's another story) and met about a hundred other Foreign Service families in the area.

My Man started A-100 (the orientation class for new Foreign Service Officers) Monday, while I tackled the challenge of registering our three kids into three different schools and then stocking our pantry and fridge.

By Tuesday our kids were in school and by the time I picked them up at the bus stop that afternoon, they were already happily incorporated into the social bedlam of our transient community.  My Man and I had several Foreign Service events to attend and ended up having something pretty much every evening that week.  We almost bought a car, then decided to wait until we know where we're going next and what vehicle regulations we'll be facing.  So after a few days borrowing a car from a very generous friend, we got acquainted with the public transportation of Falls Church (very expensive taxis, free shuttles if you time it right, and the metro with a stop only a couple blocks away).

Wednesday, the kids had early dismissal from school and the weather was unseasonably warm, so we headed out to explore the nearest trail system and parks.  The kids were delighted by the squirrels, the trees, the wildness of it all.  Needless to say, it's been a great and relatively easy transition.

Yesterday was a snow day and so Young Man invited his new friends over to play games and eat pizza (yes, I'm not above bribing his friends into thinking ours is the cool house!).  It was so awesome to talk to these 11-year-old boys about their lives.  Between the four of them, they'd lived in more than 10 different countries and visited a bunch more.  I was impressed by all of them and couldn't ask for better friends for our son.  And the best part?  They welcomed him in from day one, including him in their group, making the transition easy because they've been there, that new kid coming in the middle of a year, and they know how it is, so they do their best to make it easier.

Sunset I enjoyed while walking home from the metro one evening.

So yes, our new life will be unsettled, it will be hard and uncomfortable, but I think the rewards will be one hundred percent worth it.  A moving life is just that, a moving life, a powerful life, one where you get to soak up new experiences, see new places, become new people.

Falls Church is simply beautiful.