How to make moving an art form:
1. Con a friend into spending several hours of her night helping you move i.e. putting together a bathroom shelf.
2. Feed her, and yourself, mini-eggs, nacho chips and pepsi for dinner.
3. Spend approximately 1.5 hours putting together a shelf that looks like this:
If you think that shelf looks a little crooked, well, you’d be right. Luckily all we had to do was give the legs a little kick to straighten it up. Guess that’s what happens when you spend $30 on a flimsy shelf at Walmart. They aren’t known for their quality products after all.
On another note, moving has been making me feel a bit sad and nostalgic lately. I mean, technically, I’m moving out of mine and Eric’s first “real home” that we shared. We lived together here for 12 months, which is the longest we’d ever lived together and also the longest we’d been in one place since living with our parents. It was a real defining year in our relationship and I find that moving - and leaving this place behind - makes me feel a bit emotional and sad.
I learned to run - and fell in love with running - in the neighbourhoods around this apartment. Me and Eric celebrated two Thanksgivings here. We “raised” Webster here (yes, he’s our son, who wants to know?). I started this blog - probably one of the best things I did in the last 1.5 years - sitting in the exact same room I sat in when I typed up this blog post you’re reading right now.
While I’m incredibly excited for the next part of my life, I’m also incredibly sad about the part that is ending. And even though my new apartment is in a much better location for me, is much cheaper and is just an all-around better fit for me and Webster the one that I’m in now will always be mine and Eric’s first real home together, and when you’ve lived somewhere for 1.5 years at such a changing point in your life, it’s hard to say goodbye to all the memories that have been made.
Have you ever felt overly sad or nostalgic about moving out of somewhere? Why?
PS: A new Examiner article is up on the importance of putting safety first when you’re running. Check it out here.
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
You’ll always have the memories
I’ve moved around a lot, so don’t really get nostalgic about houses. I imagine it would be different if I OWNED my own place, though - you bet!
I just cracked up laughing again at that shelf! Holy that totally made my day. Oh how my father would be proud of my handiness (not). And the photo doesn’t even give it justice! haha
I don’t get too attached to where I live. With my parents, I’ve had about 5 houses from Texas to Missouri, also have lived at my grandmas for a year, lived in 5 different apartments/dorms while in college and abroad for one semester. So I’m used to moving around! I can’t wait to settle down into my own place some day that I know I’ll be for many years.
I feel nostalgic pretty much every time I move. A place where you spend that much time holds a lot of meaning! But, usually I get over it pretty quickly once I’m settled into my new place.
I think that’s how I’m going to feel when we move out of our place in February. Yes it’s tiny, but it’s our first home together and by then we’ll have lived here for 3 and 1/2 years!
Haha, oh the shelf!
I definitely know how you feel. When Eric and I moved from our apartment to our house, we were SO excited to have more space and not live on top of an auto-body shop anymore (you can only imagine haha). However, it was a bit sad to say bye to our first place together
We got over it pretty quick though because we LOVE our house!
I have felt that way once before… I was moving out of my apartment and into my boyfriend’s house (now my husband). I felt like I was leaving behind my independence….as silly as it might sound!
Yep! I felt that way about moving out of my first apartment with my hubby. I loved our apartment. It was in the coolest part of town, and in the morning in the summer when we had the window open the smell of roasting coffee would come through the windows from the local trendy coffee shop.
When I left my first job in PA to move back to DC I cried as I was driving out of town. I certainly didn’t love it there and I was so happy to be moving back to DC, but that was my first job and my first place of being a real person after I graduated and I cried for the nostalgia of it all. I still feel a special attachment to there even though it’s been more than a year since I’ve left.
I am sure it is a bittersweet move for you. So many memories and wonderful things happening. I always get nostalgic about places I lived — like my college campus and DC where I did my internship. I left a little part of myself in those place. As you make your new apartment home you will have new memories and adventres. I can’t wait to read about them.
Oh I know I’ll definitely be nostalgic when D & I eventually move out of this place. It’s his first place away from home and we’ve been in it together for over a year now - the year leading up to our wedding, so of course it will be nostalgic!! I don’t think I’ve ever been nostalgic about any of my former apartments though, probably because I had total morons for roommates lol
Heck yes I get sad when I move. I think the hardest one for me was when I lived with my best guy friend for two years… it was time we moved in different directions and I literally bawled like a baby. Sadly I never see him anymore; he’s about to get married and has a baby with his fiance so I guess that’s why. It was a tough move. He was like a brother to me! I still miss talking to him, our roommate nights where we would watch Sopranos, eat pizza and drink beer and giving each other dating advice. I guess we’ve both come a looong way but it was tough. Maybe even tougher because I knew that he wasn’t great at keeping up friendships
He was like a brother to me!
I also freaked out when I moved out of my college townhome I’d lived in for two years after graduation. Yikes, it was terrifying.
I’ve moved A LOT in my lifetime, and I don’t necessarily get sad or nostalgic over leaving a house or an area, it was more over the friends and memories I was leaving behind. When we left one place, I felt like I was leaving half of my world behind, but I also knew that the other half was waiting to be met. That gave me the strength to face my new home with optimism.
The house I’m in now is the first that my husband and I have had together, so I think leaving it in a year or two is going to be tough. (My husband’s in the Navy, so leaving is always inevitable.) We have so many “firsts” and memories here, just as you and Eric had in your place.
I wish you the best!
I’ve moved around quite a bit too (I think I lived in 9 places in the space of a year once, how’s that for crazy?) so I don’t get too nostalgic when I leave a house or area. The only time I was overly sad was when I moved across the country from NB to AB - and that’s mostly because I was leaving all my friends/family behind! I think it’ll be hard when Nathan and I sell our condo though, because it’s been our first place together …
Haha that shelf cracks me up! Don’t you hate it when you spend a lot of time putting it together and then the thing just sucks?! I bought a shelf from Zellers and it turned out pretty much how yours did.
When I moved from ON to AB, I was a little sad to leave home as it was the place I grew up in and had lived all of my life. My mom has the house on the market, so the day that it sells I will be really sad to see it go.
I got sad when my boyfriend graduated from college. i didnt live with him but we had so many memories in his apartment. i’m such a sap and got all teary when we packed him up!
I don’t get nostalgic. I’m kind of one of those people that when I’ve made a decision, I want it to happen NOW! Um, so I practically run out of the old place and can’t wait to get to the new one.
Also, that shelf is amazing. Good work!
When I moved out of my mom’s house in Ashcroft to move in with my dad in Kamloops, it was a little sad for me. My mom and I were fairly close, so moving away from her was hard. Luckily, she moved to Kamloops a couple years ago.
Moving in with Kyle, however, was exciting and not at all sad!
Ahhhh, this post made me feel sad for you moving haha. I legit feel like I’m moving right along with you. I know your new apartment will be full of new and wonderful adventures. Promise!
YES! When my now-ex and I moved out of the apartment I had lived in for 2 years where I started grad school/lived alone while my now-ex was deployed to Iraq/went through a major “what am I doing with my life” crisis/quit grad school/had my first “real” job out of college/had his homecoming from Iraq I nearly cried. I loved that apartment. I was excited about the move but bittersweet.
I think when I move out of my house now, I’ll feel sad too. This is the first place I’ve ever lived that has just been mine. No roommates, no boyfriend. Just me. And I love the view in my current house!
You know, I don’t really get nostalgic about homes or cars or the like. Leaving people behind, absolutely. But, moving? Nah, that never really got me down, even when a lot of good memories happened while living there.
I’ve moved a lot and I always get that sad feeling in my tummy when I move. It’s especially hard when you’re doing your last load to the new place and the apartment is just about empty. It feels so final and sad.
But then I love the newness of a new place to make new memories! I really enjoy moving, haha.
Good luck!
I was very nostalgic when I moved out of my first apartment that I rented on my own. But i was also excited to be moving into a condo that I had bought, so that kind of helped. I think that apt will always signify a pivotal period in your life. But it’s a taste of what is to come!
Hope you are getting settled in!! Wish I was there to help unpack or at least keep you company while you unpacked!!
I don’t normally feel sad when I move. I think because I’m overwhelmed with hate at how much I hate moving instead. I always tell myself I’m going to use a move to go through my things and throw stuff out, but I run out of time and just pack of everything. In the past two years I’ve had to move 3 times! But hopefully since we bought a house I won’t be moving again anytime soon!
you will make memories everywhere you live. We routinely moved once a year at first. luckily we have been in this house 5 years already with tons of great memories. while i know you will be bittersweet leaving next weekend, look forward to the kind of memories you will be making in the new apartment and it will bring a smile to your face!
I totally understand what you mean about the memories. When my family moved here, we left the home that we had lived in for the previous 16 years. It was so hard to leave behind all those memories and one thing we did so that we’d always remember it perfect was to take photos of all the rooms just as they were. It’s really nice now to look back at those photos and remember that home.
its funny, i wasnt so sad to leave the trailer we lived in FSJ until we started packing Grants nursery. when they started packing and taking stuff down i bawled. My mom and dad and sister put so much into that room and it was the place we took him when we left the hospital so i know how u feel in that sence. lots of firsts in that place
I COMPLETELY understand you. I’ve moved 6 times in my life - always after long periods of time. I’ve had to leave friends and places behind, and always get nostalgic. BUT because I’ve been “trained” (haha) to move, I also get excited about the new chapter in my life
I was really sad to move out of my FSJ apartment. Lots of good times there! I loved that place. I miss it every time I have to clean up after the boys in the bathroom here… lol.