Strange how time passes

 - by Brittany

It has officially been a year since we packed our house and moved away from Reno. We moved to Seattle conference weekend, arriving here on the 4th of October. Our good friends came over that morning to see us off. Kevin drove our moving truck while I drove our car with Jameson. (We left Kevin’s car to be picked up in a few weeks. In the last year, we have had 3 homes…

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Some things that are different about Washington:

  • Carpool lanes are sometimes on the right (not the best idea in my opinion)
  • There are bus stops along the freeway
  • We don’t have sprinklers… everyone’s grass slowly turns brown as the rain stops, and then within a week it starts raining again. No need for sprinklers.
  • I am the only one speaking English at the park… at least as a first language.
  • There are 4 distinct seasons. I love watching the leaves change. Which leads me to…
  • Your cars get covered in crunched up leaves, not dirt. Nevada, we wash cars when they get too dusty. Here, the leaves fall, get crunch as cars drive over them, it rains, and that gets stuck to your car. Kind of looks like mud.
  • Everyone drives s l o w. The speed limit on the freeway is 60 mph and everyone does about 55 mph or less.
  • Driving 20 minutes to work is a “good” commute.
  • No one stops for the rain. I wait to see if anyone else has an umbrella before I get one. Which means, usually I don’t use one. Most of the time, the rain is more of a mist. It’s really not enough to get you wet.
  • Parking spaces are more narrow. They don’t like bigger cars here.
  • Our grass is mostly moss, which makes it really soft.
  • Stores have racks of umbrellas and galoshes year round… not sun glasses.

I’m sure there are way more, but I won’t go on. Some people asked how I did it. How I handled moving away from everyone, and then how I handled Ella’s stay in the NICU. I’ll let you in on a little secret… I didn’t. I ignored what was really happening, and went into more of a survival mode. Most of the time, I do not get too personal, since I do not know everyone that reads this blog, but I feel I should share this. Hopefully it helps someone else.

We were at a place in life where we felt stuck, I guess you could say. Kevin felt that in order to progress in his career, we needed to move from Reno. There were also some other motivations, but I won’t go into those. I wanted to stay on the west coast. The technical hubs in the west are: Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Bay Area, or Seattle. Well Phoenix was not an option for me. I’ve lived in the dry desert heat and would rather never have to do that again. Bay area was too expensive. We looked at Salt Lake, but opportunity wise, Seattle was the better option. So resumes went out to the last two. Kevin arranged it, so he could work remotely for the month of October. Honestly, we picked a date and said we were moving by that date. There was no job we were moving for, but since we hadn’t heard from anywhere, we chose Seattle. Kevin felt once he was here, he would be able to interview and get a job. After much prayer and thought, we felt Seattle was the right move. With no job to be moving for, I had to completely trust my husband on this.

As word got out we were looking for a place in Seattle, a guy Kevin knew from work offered his place. He was in Reno fulfilling a contract and wanted to rent his town house to us. It was fully furnished which would give us time to figure out where we wanted to live without having to unpack very much. It also allowed us to sell most of our larger items and not have to move them. So we packed. I put on a smile, and kept telling myself it would work out. I cried when no one was looking, but tried to be strong and support my husband. He was excited to move.

Friends and family came to help load the truck Friday evening, and Saturday morning we got in the cars. I fought back tears as I hugged my friends, good-bye. I held them in until after we stopped for breakfast. I didn’t want Kevin to see me with red, puffy eyes. So I only allowed tears if I knew it was going to be long driving stretch.

After two days in the car, we arrived at our new home. I had tried to prepare myself for what I would find, knowing a middle aged bachelor had lived there. Nothing can prepare you, though. I didn’t know the phrase, “Fully furnished,” would also include clothes in the washer, and food in the fridge. That’s when I lost it in front of Kevin.

So Kevin sent me to the store, to get what we needed, and he stayed with Jameson, trying to clean and move things as best he could. He worked his butt off, let me tell you. That night, I wrapped myself in a blanket from the car, and went to sleep. I will remind you… I also had pregnancy hormones to deal with which may have cause some emotions that normally would have  been under control.

The next day, we hired some guys to come unpack our truck. Kevin made sure I didn’t have to do anything. The first week was a lot of trial and error, getting lost, and unpacking. Luckily, it wasn’t raining when we got here.

Kevin had received a call as we were driving up to Washington. They had a position they wanted him to fill, but it was in Seattle, not Reno. Lucky for them, we were on our way. So Tuesday, he started his new job. This meant, for a month he would be working two jobs.

Our first Sunday at church we were invited to dinner. This family has become like family to us. She was such an example to me of the importance of reaching out to new people. I have tried really hard to make sure I make people feel accepted the way we did that first week in a new ward. I have come to really love the organization of the church. I knew before we got here, I had a support group waiting for me. There are people waiting to be your friends, and waiting to serve you.

I have learned, through moving and also through Ella’s birth, the ward is truly our family. The power of the priesthood is real. There are people who will drop everything in their lives, to be in yours in your time of need. No request is to troublesome. I am grateful for everyone that has made our transition easier. We really have had opportunity here we wouldn’t have  had in Reno. We have also grown closer together, and closer to Heavenly Father by having to depend more on each other.

So if your wondering how I managed (which I hear a lot), I did it one day at a time, with support from those around me. I am trying to do the same for others around me. I know I don’t always accomplish this, but I’m working on it.

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