I’ve always known that my days of moving every few years would eventually come to an end. What I did not know was how natural it would feel, or the opportunities that would come out of it, despite the past few months holding more change than I have ever experienced in my military brat life.
My family and I moved back to the United States from overseas. This type of move came with its own brand of problems. Half of the goods we took overseas with us had to be delivered and unpacked. The other half of our goods, which had been in storage in the states for the past two years, also had to be delivered and unpacked. It was a never-ending rotation of boxes! Receive some boxes, unpack those, then wait a week or so and do it all over again. This was very different from the usual state-side move of having a single tidal wave of goods and boxes coming crashing down in one day, not to mention the hassle we went through trying to find a house to live in in the crazy market.
We lived in between hotels and family members’ houses while trying to find a house to buy. Looking at beat-up houses for high prices and good houses for even higher prices really takes a toll on financial morale. Meanwhile, school started, and my sister and I tried to navigate a new school and find new friends while living in a hotel. It was an extremely stressful time for everyone in my family because this was the first time my parents had ever even considered buying a house, and the first time my sister and I started school living in a hotel.
However, it blessedly turned out to all be worth it. My family and I were able to see family members whom we had only been able to talk to over the phone for the past two years! We have spent a lot of time together since returning to the States and are looking forward to spending as much time together in the future as we can. In addition, having goods delivered in two different shipments actually turned out to be less stressful and more efficient as we were able to unpack all the first shipment goods before the second delivery.
As for house hunting, we found a great house at a reasonable price! Being able to move out of the hotel and into our new home was amazing. It is strange to think that we will not have to rent houses anymore as we have done for the entirety of my life. We have our own—my very first permanent home.
Throughout this whole process, and even now as I write this article, I have felt like our new life here in the states would be a good one. I miss my friends in South Korea very much, and it makes me sad that they have now become the ones I can only talk to over the phone. I miss my life in Korea: my neighbors and my house and all the friends I was blessed enough to be able to know, and the time I have spent with them. Here, I might feel stressed, anxious, and prone to the unfamiliar. But there is no uncertainty in the fact that I have already handled the hardest part: leaving my friends and life and moving halfway across the world! After that, I know that everything is going to be alright.
Now I have a new life to build in my new home, starting with painting my room the color I want for the first time in my life and hanging some pictures without worrying about the number of nail holes left behind in the wall.
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