If you’re in the military, moving is a given.  A fact of life.  And actually, it is a really good part of military life….most of the time.

The Ornery Moving Hormone

Long ago, when all the other military wives were receiving their gear, I must have been late that day. There is one basic military supply item that I didn’t get issued.

This pivotal piece of gear keeps military folks plugging along quite nicely when it comes to moving.   It is the Transitional Adjustment to Change Accelerator—TACA for short. (I’ve been in the military long enough; I can make up a few of my own acronyms!)

Some gals have the TACA and seem to breeze through all aspects of transitions involved with moving.

I’m still waiting for mine to arrive in the mail.

I must confess that I struggle with the Ornery Moving Hormone (OMH).  You see, the sight of cardboard boxes on the curb, moving vans in driveways often makes me feel just a little nauseous.

Seasoned military spouses like myself, are NOT supposed to feel this way; we’re supposed to be enthusiastic, energetic, and anxiety-free movers and shakers.

Just letting you know that in this department, I am not the model military spouse.

Go figure–that’s the Ornery Moving Hormone at work.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.  Some of this orneriness is because I don’t like the process of change, and I don’t like all of the work involved with said change.   Do you struggle with this?

Do you struggle with this?

Here is a taste of OMH at work during my last move.

Flash back to 2011:

You see, the I love my corner of the world, even though when I first got here I didn’t think I would ever like it (Evidence of more OMH at work).

It usually takes about 6 months of getting settled for that to pass. I really don’t like all the emotional upheaval that curses through my veins during this 6-month adjustment zone.

Once adjusted to the change of moving across the world, I loved living in Japan.  Now that it’s time to go, I just want to pack up all the people and places that I love about this place and take them with me.

Do you think the Japanese would mind if I take just one little beach with me?

Or how about a restaurant?

An Emotional Tug of War

Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to moving back to Virginia.  This will be my first time EVER moving back somewhere I have lived before.

But, at the same time, that ornery I-don’t-want-to-move hormone is letting loose its unwanted presence in my system.  It dredges up old insecurities that seem to go hand in hand with changing addresses.

I think it comes down to the issue that I want to have my cake and eat it too.  I want to stay, but I am excited to go.  I want to go, but I don’t want to give up the things I love about my current location.

Although it’ll be great to be closer to family,  I don’t want to unpack, paint, hang, organize, and sort on the other end.  See this is the Ornery Moving Hormone gearing up for a good ride!

Unpacking is not my favorite thing!

As with many things in life, we can’t have it all.  In case you haven’t noticed, it is impossible to be both here and there at the same time!

[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#moving, #milfamily”]We can’t experience the benefits of change without the letting go of what must be left behind. [/tweetthis]

So come June, I will box up my souvenirs from Japan, add many memories to my scrapbook, and head back to the States, knowing that there are just some things you can’t pack.