3 years to the date John and I have lived in the interesting "city" of Centralia. What a 3 years it has been.
It went from this:
to this:
.
I had lived alone a couple of times before far, far away from home and I had gone through 2 Iraq deployments with my husband. Those challenges paled in comparison to this life change. At first we cried our eyes out not knowing why we were here. Seriously. We sat in Monical's Pizza and cried real tears.Lots of them. We heard every train that came by our house and each passing was met with our cat doing meowing laps in our house and John having a spaz attack. Had we misheard God? Were we suffering from momentary insanity? Had we taken a wrong turn somewhere north of Albuquerque? We came to a place where we knew only our real estate agent and had only each other. Needless to say- we didn't take the transition as graciously as we could have. We were closer to family, yes but not close enough in my book (I thought at the time). We were in what I considered at that time to be a rural God-forsaken town and I longed for my mountain drives to Palm Springs again, military family lifestyles and felt as if I was starving for friendship and connection. Then at one of the of the lowest times in my life I found an investment opportunity:
Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires makes a wise and a happy purchase.
Ha! Contentment!...uh huh. This is an art for me. It does not come easy but it is worth every penny (figuratively speaking..)We became involved in Orchardville Church and began to be a part of an amazing work in this town which needs Jesus so desperately.
We found friends who embraced who we are, and complimented our differences and we took every opportunity to spend moments with our close-yet-so-far-away families.
John and I began embracing each other more. We began learning what it was really like to be living in the moment with each other. Living to love. Loving to live..together.
joy
It took 3 years, well about 2 and a quarter, really to get our heads on straight and realize its the journey that makes the destination worthwhile. Where are we going you ask? I have no idea. But I do know that being where God wants me is just where I want to be and not a centimeter elsewhere. Nothing compares to knowing that we did hear Him correctly, we weren't insane and that we didn't make a wrong turn north of Albequerque. We definitely took a road that is not usually traveled and to be really honest, it has made all of the difference for us.
sing with me now..Happy Centralia anniversary to us.
Yes,
happy
You are always inspiring to me with your "interprations."! That was first of all. Second, in my one (too) short visit to Centralia I loved its quaint little charm...but more importantly your home which was filled with love and warmth. It was something that I desperately needed at the time. If I never said so, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think of you often.