We're moving.
It seems rather sudden. In less than two weeks my family will be living in a house half an hour away from here. Different house. Different city. More people. More traffic. Less trees. Less hills. Less distance between our home and the places we go.

Funny how life works, though. All of a sudden I realize how much I like this house. Our long, gravel driveway. The road we live on. The surrounding woods. Being able to walk from one end of the house to the other in the dark, knowing exactly where everything is (except when there's something unexpected in the middle of the floor!).

But I really am happy that we're moving. It's a good house, and I liked it when we went to see it. It's so much closer to everything than our home "out in the sticks." And, get this: It's on the very same street as our bestest friends in the whole wide world. How cool is that? We've always talked about how cool it would be if we were neighbors, and now we will be! So, it really is pretty exciting.

Dread at having to pack up all of our junk and scour both houses has sort of killed the excitement for the moment, though. Packing is nothing compared to the real joy-killer. What could be worse than packing and cleaning, you ask? It is this:

I can no longer work at the little preschool in town. I'm pretty much devastated about that. (I cried after I called Mrs. Nancy to tell her so.) All summer long I've anticipated going back to work. Back to my sweet boys from last year, back to spending weekday mornings being "Miss Caitlin," reading the same books over and over, repeating playground rules, passing out second helpings of goldfish and reminding little hands that snack is for eating, not squishing.

Last week I spent every morning preparing our room for the first week of school, and now I don't get to be there. So... I'm pretty much heartbroken about that. And people keep saying, "don't worry, there are plenty of preschools where you're going! I'm sure you can get a job there!" But that's not the point. It's not my preschool. I'm sure I can get a new job, and make friends with new teachers, and love a new set of kids, but the point is that I've missed everybody from our smalltown preschool over the summer, and now I don't get to go back to them.

The thought also struck me that I won't be going to the little brick Post Office in town for all of my shipping needs any more. Mr. Bob always asks how business is going, and says I'm their favorite customer. :) The local P.O. where we're moving is bigger and busier.

Lest you think that I'm complaining, let me reassure you! I'm happy we're moving. I think it's a wise move, and will be very beneficial. We'll be so close to everything, best friends included! The house is perfect for us, and getting it just right -like we did with this house- will be a fun process.

I've just been wanting to write a sad post about how I'll miss the people at preschool, and the post office, and the woods, and our road, and being close to Mema's. Now that I've done so, you can expect ... well, I don't know what you can expect. =)

Enjoy the long weekend!
Caitlin