Coffee Break #56 | Where We’re Living Now!
I promised this post last month, but I just couldn’t fit it in. But today’s the day, friends! I’m spilling the tea on where we live now, for how long, and how this move is (already) shaping up to be so different from all our others!
We’ve Moved To…
I can’t tell you how happy it makes me when I get private messages from fellow military spouses who know exactly where I am based on sharing a single photo. It’s a testament to the little spouse community we’ve built here; and to those of you who figured it out, I appreciate you giving me the time to “reveal” it in my own way.
This past summer, my family and I left Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (with so many tears and even fuller hearts) and executed move #10 to Carlisle, Pennsylvania…home of the US Army War College.
How This Move Is Different From All Our Others
This is a one year assignment for Greg, where he is stationed with the Army as a student. While you might think all of those things are usual for us, they are not. This is Greg’s third one-year assignment; his third time being assigned to a military school; and his third time being stationed with the Army.
So besides the fact that we are (finally!) in a brand new-to-us state (until now, we’ve been circling back to the same states over and over again), what makes this move so unusual?
We didn’t bring all of our stuff. In fact, we put about half of our belongings into long-term storage for the year (as in, we cannot access it).
Record screech. Say what?!?
Let me rewind a year or so…
This Isn’t My First 1 Year Rodeo
We have known for much of the last two years that Greg’s next assignment would be to a military school (it’s the “usual” follow-on step from his previous job). There are several different schools across the nation where he could be assigned, but almost all of them are one year long (less than that actually, as they are a school year).
We have done two other one-year assignments and are intimately familiar with both the opportunities and challenges that come with such a short-term experience. While we truly loved our time in Quantico, VA and Leavenworth, KS (both 1-year schools), this time around was feeling especially complicated, uncertain, and heavy.
Yes, packing/unpacking boxes and decorating/un-decorating our homes is exhausting. But moving is so much more than that. It’s leaving friends, comforts, routines, and familiarity. It’s finding new schools, new doctors, new dentists, new hair dressers. It brings tedious paperwork, copious research, hard goodbyes, and awkward introductions. All of it for 5 different people.
It’s a lot to take on for any duration…but the logistics, planning, and disruption was feeling especially burdensome for just one year. Because remember…we’d do it all this summer. And then do it all again next summer, when this assignment is over.
I am very rarely overwhelmed by the prospect of moving, but this time…I was. As such, we were seriously considering myself and the kids staying put in North Carolina while Greg went ahead to school, wherever he was ultimately assigned. We loved our house and our life in Camp Lejeune, and (more importantly) we saw this as a (relatively easy) way to eliminate one transition and provide stability for the kids.
Our “plan” was pretty much settled. And then Greg got assigned to Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
It was equal parts totally unexpected and incredibly thrilling. We’ve heard nothing but amazing things about the “experience” at Carlisle (IYKYK), and we’ve long been wanting to explore Pennsylvania more (it’s on our short list of forever home locations). Quite suddenly, splitting up the family didn’t feel like the right solution; but I had to figure out a way to cut through the suffocating overwhelm and make this move (and next summer’s) as easy as possible.
This entire “saga” was playing out a time when I was feeling especially burdened by our home…specifically the stuff in it and the projects I was doing to it. As I chat more about here, the novelty of doing (and then undoing) home after home was rapidly loosing its luster, and the amount of stuff we were accumulating in the name of doing said projects was stifling in its own right.
The only way I could wrap my brain around transitioning our entire lives for just a year was to drastically simplify the move itself. And that meant:
- Not bringing all our stuff.
- Not doing any projects.
It felt like a crazy idea at the time, but it was also the exact “break” I needed to be totally in on moving our family to Pennsylvania.
What Does This Mean for the Blog?
As I’ve said…this year will be unlike any other…both for my family in real life and here on the blog. We brought just over half of our belongings to Pennsylvania. A vast majority of our “decor” and pretty much all of my craft/DIY supplies were put into storage. And this was intentional. I do not plan to do any significant makeovers or projects in our current home. When I said I’ve been struggling with near total burnout, I meant it. And this is me giving myself a real, true break.
But a month ago, I told you “I’m back!” and I am. Just because I’m stepping off the perpetual project hamster wheel doesn’t mean I don’t still have lots of ideas to share with you.
- There are countless projects and spaces I still haven’t shown you from our North Carolina home, including how it all came apart…
- We did our first ever DITY (do it yourself) move here to Pennsylvania and have so many lessons learned…
- There are lots of (really) old posts that I need to update…
- And I (already) have so many reflections on this “living with less” sabbatical, including what we put into storage, why, how it’s going, what we miss, etc.
Oh…and despite telling myself I wasn’t going to do a single project all year, I’ve already hung wallpaper in two rooms and came up with some pretty clever curtain hacks…because I guess I can’t help myself, after all.
(I’ve already snuck a few photos of our current digs into some recent posts – who noticed?!?)
So while I have every intention to be here (perhaps more than ever), I feel compelled to say that moving forward, posts and projects will no longer be perfectly chronological. I’m going to share whatever ideas I think will help you love your home more, whether they are from my current home, 9 homes ago, or any one in between. I know this is a bit of a pivot that may take some time getting used to (for me too!) But as I said last month, I’m fairly certain these (subtle) changes will ultimately spell lots of good things here in the end!
Ask Megan
You guys always ask the greatest questions, and I love answering them! If you have any topics or questions you’d love to see me cover, submit them via the (anonymous) form below.
I know so many of you have been waiting for this post. Thanks, as always, for your patience; and I’d love to hear what you think of our new location and the choices we’ve made to make it all work out!
Megan
12 Comments on “Coffee Break #56 | Where We’re Living Now!”
I love your new blogging plan! I hope it will be refreshing for you too to blog in a different way and with a different mindset.
This was also an endearing post about how much you and Greg support each other, because it’s not easy to be a trailing spouse.
All the best in your new home!
Welcome to Pennsylvania! I hope that your family enjoys your time here. I’m a lifelong resident (lived in Philly, Hershey, Harrisburg, a rural county near Penn State main campus, and now York/Lancaster). I truly think it’s a great place to live, especially if you enjoy visiting other places as it’s ridiculously easy to get to the beach, DC, Baltimore, NYC, and even Boston.
Congrats on managing at all! You are very inspiring with you can do attitude. Love hearing about your family life as much as your projects so everyone is happy to tune in however you choose to share.
And you’re in a state with an amazing governor!
Hi and congratulations on your move! I may have missed you explaining this in a past post, but have you thought about homeschooling your children so they won’t have to be uprooted so much?
Thank you!
I’m so excited to hear how this “sabbatical” goes. And a husband home EVERY NIGHT! (Although it may discourage you about retirement)
Hi Megan. I love your blog although I intend to finish my life in this home and never move again. My parents moved several times during my childhood and ensured the continuity of my schooling by putting me and my brother into boarding school. Have you ever considered sending your children away to school, it gives them continuity and you more time?
If you haven’t found Hollabaugh’s apple farm in Biglerville, go this fall for sure! You don’t have to pick your own, they have the BEST apples anywhere (I drive an hour+ to get there), and you’ll love it! Half an hour max from Carlisle.
I really appreciate when you share the thought process behind figuring out how to handle a situation. I’m very much an “in the box” thinker and have a hard time coming at a problem from different angles with a solution. I’d love to hear more about the long term storage and how that works, cost, etc.
Our move next summer will be different for us because my husband will only be 3 years from retirement at that point, so conversations have been a little different this time around. We’ve always rented (there isn’t a lot of military housing available in the Coast Guard) because it’s been the easier choice when it comes time to move. We bought/sold once before and vowed never again, it was a mild nightmare. But this time around with him retiring and us still not knowing where we’re going to retire to (!!!), we’re thinking the logical choice may be to buy a home so when he’s out we don’t have to decide do we renew a lease for a year or….? Then we can stay put while we explore and figure out where on earth we want to live then sell when we’re ready. So many choices to be made! I’m really looking forward to the change up with what y’all have decided to do and all the ins and outs of how it’s going.
I have used your blog archives for years for organizing ideas. Now that we are retired, we are doing some serious sorting and purging (although we aren’t moving not moving). So I’m looking forward to seeing what you do this year!
Congratulations! You are amazing! Enjoy the year.
Hello Megan, thanks for the update. I really love to read about your military life, because ist’s so diffrent than mine – i just “know” this life from movies or books :-). How do your boys handle the new home etc.? All the best from Switzerland
Looking forward to all the good things you have to share! <3 <3