The day I left my childhood home

 Describe the day you moved away from your childhood home.

I left my childhood home on my wedding day.

I believe I lived in another house prior to that one when I was a baby, but that house is where my memories start.

I lived there for 19 years, and at that point, 19 years seemed like an impressively long stretch of time.

But now I’ve lived that length of time again plus two years.

In that time, my own firstborn has had more than 19 birthdays, and my second baby is approaching her 19th.

So, I now understand better my parents’ sadness at me leaving; how it could have felt “so soon” to them when it didn’t to me. Perception of time varies wildly based on where you see it from.

My parents might have been sad, but on that day, I remember just feeling happy.  A whole new chapter of my life was opening up before me, and he and I had been counting down the days for months.

I think that’s as it should be. I know that while part of me will be sad every time one of our kids moves out, our kids will probably feel nothing but happy.  New adventures await!

And that’s what I remind myself of. New adventures await me too; maybe nothing quite as drastic as what kids experience when they leave home, but still, things will change and be new again.

In every stage of life I’ve lived so far, there were good parts to be found. And I trust that that will be true of the new stages waiting for me too.