Living the Life of a Nomad No More (Or At Least, Not As Much)

This has been a weird year for me, but not for a reason you might think. For only the second year in the last seven years, I haven't moved anywhere.

Okay, there's still two months left in this year (!!!), but barring some crazy circumstances or changes in the next eight weeks, I'm staying put for an entire year.

I have a good idea as to what you're thinking. I'm guessing it's something along the lines of, "Why exactly is this weird? And why on earth have you been moving so much over the last several years? Do you just like being a nomad that much?"

Let me start by saying that I'm really not into moving or being on the go that much. I don't have to go into great detail over the stress of moving since I'm sure anyone who actually reads this blog (all three or four of you out there) already knows how awful moving can be. Frankly I don't know how I was able to move that much over the last several years, but I was able to do it.

I an closely relate to one of my best friends though, since we had a running joke about how the both of us moved somewhere about the same amount of times over the course of the same number of years. Whenever one of us had to move, the other would be expected to help packing and moving boxes into the new place. However, she wasn't able to help me moving to Virginia last year, so I am up one on her. I just haven't figured out how she's going to pay me back for it yet.

But here I am, in the exact same place where I had first moved to Virginia last year. When it dawned on me in August that I'd been in my place for a full year and I had no plans to go anywhere else, I almost felt like the year was missing something somehow with me staying put. I'm not complaining by any means of the sort, but it's an odd feeling nonetheless.

Maybe my staying put is a bit more symbolic in nature. Last year was definitely a year of flux for me, for a number of reasons, between changing jobs, moving to Virginia, and the chaos in my family. This year has been more stable overall, and I'm sure staying in my place played a big role in that. It's certainly possible that I'm reading too much into things, but maybe it is for the best that I didn't move this year. Staying in a place for more than a single year worked out well for others, and maybe it'll do the same for me.