Moving Day

My cousin and I have a standing tradition that every year we celabrate "Moving Day". I started in 2002, when I was exiled out of the state of California by an ex-boyfriend. This guy was a real peach. I was told one weekend, "you need to move back to MN, your family misses you and we should leave on Friday." This was after I had found him, dirty dancing with a disgusting ho, to which he replys, he was helping our roommate "get some". Too much energy was already wasted on him in this post, if you want more details, ask me.

Anyways, back to Moving Day.... We started this tradition the day I got back in to MN, we picked up some alcohol and went home and got drunk. Moving Day was more of a moving on with your life and the changes that come, than it was about actually moving. But it seems almost every year since, one of us has actually moved. The first year was 2002, back from CA. The second year 2003, I was engaged, planning a wedding, building a new house and living in the city. So we celebrated by drinking heavily (my cousin and I). The third year 2004, my cousin was moving to MT to take a new job, moving day was celebrated about a month later than normal in May of that year, {Moving Day is actually April 26}. We had moved her out of her apartment and then took a road trip with her dad to MT. The fourth year 2005 was marked by us chatting on the phone and reminising over times past. We would recount all the stupid and fun things we have done on Moving Day, and how much our lives have actually changed since that fateful, wintery April night when I showed up on her door step crying. Since we weren't together on moving day, we had to celebrate separately. But then in the Fall of 2005 we got to do it right, she moved back from MT for the winter. We drove half way across the country once more together. Then in the Spring of 2006 (Aprilish) we got to pack up once more and move her back to MT, for the 6th moving day, this trip happend to coincide with the original day. Each time we would grab a 6 pack and drive (this was a Moving Day tradition and only one was missed when we weren't together). We even have a theme song. Jessica Andrews, There's More To Me Than You. Check it out, this is the exact thoughts I had on the first Moving Day, but the sound track wasn't discovered until the 2nd.

So this year, was once again marked with us being on opposite sides of the US. She is still in MT and I am here in MN. I did call her at a very early time and sing almost the entire song on her voicemail, which I knew would get big laughs, mostly because I am a HORRIBLE singer.

We moved Saturday into our new house, it was a beautiful day and plenty of beer was drank, but it just wasn't the same without her. Sometimes, I feel like my life is moving on with out her and other times I feel like she is moving on with out me. We always end up in the same places, just every once in a while, one of us is left behind for a few months. It's not a competition. But when she moved out to MT for the first time, I was jealous. It was so beautiful out there. She made all these great new friends, and here I was in MN doing the same old things I used to. I was married and settled down. I sometimes wanted to be free to run. Other times, (like this year) I am very happy to be settled down and I know she is a little jealous. She loves my husband ( I do too, :) ), but I know she wants what we have. We have a wonderful son and good jobs, but every now and then, I would like to pick up and move, just to see what it would be like somewhere else. That's the trouble with life, you are always wanting something more, something different, something new, something you can't have, something on the other side of the fence. The grass is always greener....