I never meant for the long delay since my last blog post. Life has been very full and very crazy this past month or two. I know in my last post I hinted at some sort of change coming my way. I really wanted to write a follow up post to that but each day slipped by me and I never got to it. So, here I sit today finally getting around to that follow up post. I have rewritten this post over and over in my head for what must be a million times now so I do hope I can make it come out right as I type.
Life can be strange sometimes. A year or so ago I never imagined I would be facing this huge change that me and my family are about to venture forth with. Life can sure throw you some curve balls when you least expect them. Just when I thought life might be starting to flow into a steady rhythm for us one curve ball after another was tossed our way. Then in January we were hit with one last blow and suddenly it became very clear we were headed for some serious change. It is surreal to me because in some respects it feels like we have been traveling towards this direction all along but I just never knew it till now.
I need to backtrack quite a way back for a minute in order for you to fully understand exactly what I mean. So hang in there while I touch on a bit of my family’s history. On both sides of my family my roots can be traced back to the Midwest. On my mother’s side a very large part of my family tree branches out from the Kansas City area. When my mother was just a toddler my grandparents moved from the Kansas City area, with my mother in tow, to Orange County, California. This was back when Orange County still had orange groves growing all around- quite different from the Orange County today. Eventually my grandmother’s parents also moved to Southern California. So, I grew up surrounded by a large number of family members in Southern California. But as I reached my teen years slowly my family began to move all over the country. This was really hard on me as I have always been one to love my family being close by.
As the years continued to pass we became more and more scattered as a family. Literally we were all scattered across the country. Some of us (like me) remained on the West Coast even though no longer in Southern California while others resided way on the other side of the country on the East Coast.
The interesting thing is recently over the past couple of years one by one my family members are returning to the Midwest. Last year it was my mom’s turn to return to her family’s roots when she took the plunge and moved over 1800 miles to return to Kansas City. It was a strange feeling for me knowing that most of my family is back together like it once was when I was a child. And yet here I was in the Pacific Northwest nowhere near any family members now. (My mom had spent the past several years living close by in Oregon before she returned to the Kansas City area.)
Then this year a series of unpleasant events rocked my (not so) little family here in Washington. As each earthquake like event rumbled through my family I began to realize it might now be my family’s turn to go back to where our history begins.
And so, in a round and about way, that brings us to today, the middle of May. In just a little over two short weeks we will be packing our belongings into a moving truck and driving halfway across the country to our new home in the Kansas City area. We are both excited and sad all at the same time. It is going to be so hard to leave this beautiful area that we have come to love. Never in my life have I seen as much beauty as that found here in the Pacific Northwest. In the eight years that we have lived here I have learned so much and met so many interesting people. All of this will be so greatly missed but I know in my heart it is time to move on. Life does seem to have a plan and for once I am trying not to fight it.
I do not know what will unfold in this next chapter of my life. I am sorry to see this one end but very excited to see what lies ahead as this new chapter is written. I am sure it will be quite different from what this current one held and that both frightens and thrills me all at once. It is so true when they say “home is where the heart is” and right now home for us is with family in the Heartland of our country.
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Pictures in today’s post are from my Instagram feed from over the past several weeks. I may not have been blogging much these past few months but I have been regularly posting pictures to Instagram. I am completely hooked on it at the moment and if you are too please be sure to let me know so I can connect with you there. I intend to post pictures there as we continue on with our BIG move.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, Cynthia! You will be in my thoughts and prayers. I hope your move goes smoothly, and that you are able to settle right into your new home.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart Ginny. Your thoughts and prayers are most welcomed and appreciated because since posting this I am now feeling very nervous! Moving day is approaching way too fast! ?
Oh gosh, I sure understand about life changes.. I certainly wish you and your family the very best as you embark on these new changes!!
Thank you so much Jen! Your kind words are as appreciated as much as your friendship has been over the years. <3
Cynthia,
Congrats on your approaching move! I spent much of my growing up years in Iowa and still have a lot of family in the Midwest. I love the thunderstorms and the lightning bugs.
Enjoy being with your family.
Love,
Taryn
Thank you Taryn I do look forward to the thunderstorms even though I fear they will scare my younger children. But I know they will get a huge kick out of the lightening bugs! I regret that I am just getting to know you now right before leaving this area- I so wish I could have gotten to know you sooner! I will continue to live in Oregon precariously through your blog. <3
Cynthia, I just sent you an e-mail but it looks like there is a lot of change this year! I am thinking of you and your beautiful family and praying for you. You all deserve so very much!! Wishing you a safe journey my friend!! XO
Big news indeed.
I hope your move goes well. I’m sure you will appreciate being closer to your family. I hope you will continue to blog?
We are planning a move also; five years from now. I’m already feeling bittersweet.
Just wanted to wish you all the best
Jeni
(a regular reader, Australian blogger and textile curator from the other side of the planet who wishes she’d been able to preserve some of your dye work in a museum)
Hi Cynthia, I ran across your blog through one of your photo “yarn dyed with black-beans” where it took me to your blog. I’m a dyer, spinner and weaver and I love Instagram! I’m now following you on Instagram. I just want to wish you goodluck with the move. I’ve moves so many times and I’m loving it. Best of the move and well settle once to you get there – Hugs Nat
Hello Cynthia,
I stumbled onto you on Instagram… I’m not exactly sure how, but your feed caught my eye because I just ordered my first spinning wheel! Then, I went to your Etsy page (Your yarns are scrumptious!) and then here. Amazingly enough, my husband and I (along with our 6 kids) are in the planning stages of a move 700 miles from where we are now for the purpose of going back to the roots of our families. Everyone around us pretty much thinks we are crazy, and I will tell you it is so nice to read of someone doing the very same thing. You summed up my feelings so well when you said it “both frightens and thrills me all at once”. I am terrified but yet so ready for the adventure.
Blessings,
Alice
Hello my fibre loving friend! I also wish you good health and good adventures on this new journey. Sometimes life takes unexpected turns and diversions and it is all we can do to keep a smile on our face and hang on for the ride! I wish that your ride is smooth and easy…and I hope you continue all your dyeing adventures. (As I write, I am waiting on a (disapointing avocado skin/pit bath). Please keep in touch!
xo Jules