The Right Place
It’s to the point now where it’s ridiculous.
I have stubbornly blocked out all of the specific conversations where people say to me: “You like to move a lot.” They mean move homes/living spaces. I am quick to contradict them, because I actually really hate disrupting my space and the physical toll of moving. I hate it. And yet, I cannot behave as though they are not recognizing a pattern. The longest I have lived anywhere except my mom’s house was three years in a rent house near Midwest City, Oklahoma. And I owe that stability to grad school and the pandemic.
Let me cut right to the chase. I’m moving “back.”
You know I live in Guatemala in housing provided by the school that employs me. If you didn’t know that about me, go read this. What you may not know is that we were originally in a little modern apartment in a cute neighborhood that made us feel too separated from everything, because we don’t have a car. Here is a video throwback to our arrival to Guatemala and that apartment.
There is a small, gated community of 25 homes nearer to our school and we were able to move here. Here is a video I recorded our first weeks here.
Despite what I wrote above about hating to move, I left Oklahoma for Guatemala in July 2022. Then I left one Guatemalan apartment for a Guatemalan townhome in summer 2023. And now I will be leaving my Guatemalan townhome for somewhere in Houston, TX in summer 2024.
It’s not that I like moving. It’s that I refuse to stay too long in a place where I’m not happy. And my standards are high for being happy.
I am delusional enough to believe that I deserve what I want.
I believe this because most of my desires are not frivolous and because I have made more than my share of deposits into the karmic bank. I will give the gods every opportunity to bless me, as I deserve, and beyond.
So I’m moving again… in exactly 9 weeks. Not moving across town, which I hate but is easier. I am moving back out of the country. I am in search of the right place. I knew Guatemala was temporary, but I was hoping for longer. For now, Houston, the home of my maternal grandparents, might be the right place.
I have only accomplished four things in preparation for this move:
1. packed up some clothes
2. designated some items for sale
3. obtained the contact information of an international shipping company
4. discovered that my neighbor has a luggage scale
You know that’s not enough things, right?
One cool thing my school does is allow us to email our fellow staffers and sell things. I have a terrible track record with doing something again that I already tried once. I have not been successful with selling items in this way, even though my colleagues are. I know the universe is teaching me patience and follow through.
My adorable and lovely little neighborhood organized a community-wide garage sale and we were roundly unsuccessful. This reminds me of the garage sale I had before leaving Oklahoma that was unsuccessful in the same way. *facepalm*
I am writing this blog post so that you all can say to me: hey crazy girl, what if, for once in your life, you keep the main thing the main thing and get ready for your move??? Feel free to copy and paste that line into the comments word for word.
Here’s my moving to do list - posted online for accountability:
1. Make the sales document for my colleagues to buy from me
2. See if anyone has a vacuum (because I moved my clothes and bedding here in vacuum sealed bags… but vacuums are less popular in places with no carpets)
3. Actually get the luggage scale from my neighbor
4. Actually weigh a suitcase and get a quote from the shipping company
5. Decide where my shipped items will be shipped to (or who will help my 92-year-old grandmother receive my items in an unobtrusive way)
6. Assess how much it will cost me to ship my items
I will update you every so often with my progress. Stay tuned!
When it comes to where you physically live, do you feel like you’re in the right place?