Over the weekend, I sent off paperwork to sell our first home in Alabama. If all goes well, that chapter of my and my husband’s life will be over come Monday. It’s hard not to get nostalgic about the time we spent in that house. We got engaged and married while living in that house, and brought home Mango as a 4-lb. puppy. We had great neighbor-friends, and built a lot of memories there.We also put a lot of work into the house and fixed it up as well as we could.
So to see it handed off to someone else is bittersweet to the core. It’s compounded by the fact that my parents chose to leave their house, 6 miles from our old house, and move to South Carolina, close to my sister and her family, and just a 5.5-hour drive to where we live now in Florida. They left this week — the same time that our house is selling. It feels as though together, we’re closing the door on Alabama. And that hurts, because as much as I love Alabama, my husband and I both needed career moves that weren’t there for us.
So now, over the past couple of months, I’ve been watching my employer from the time we lived in that house, al.com, reorganize and shape itself into a new digital-first news organization. It’s hard not to get a lump in my throat and ask, “What if?” What if we had stayed in Alabama and kept our house? What if I had stayed with al.com and could be a big part of the new organization? Or, conversely, what if I wasn’t…?
But the choices we make in life are just that. I could not have predicted what al.com is doing a year ago. And I also can’t predict what good things are yet to come from our move to central Florida. I have high hopes about the coming months and years. We’re settling into a house next month with a garage, and a yard, and a pool. My husband is building a career as a chef.
And me? I’m going for my dreams, asking for what I want, and trying until I succeed.
Digital Kristen 