Displaced Underwear

I need you to think long and hard for just a moment as you ponder this question:  Where did you store your underwear ten years ago?  College dorm room drawer?  Random dresser at a studio apartment?  The same place you have for the past thirty years?  I’m not going to lie; I envy that last one.  To wake up, grab a fresh pair without a thought, and get your day going?  That sounds AWESOME.

Using too much mental energy to find the basics these days is kind of my current jam.  There is a slight hint of where underwear might be, or the last time I saw a headband, or that one pair of jeans that go perfectly with a hoodie and too much coffee.  Amplify that by four other people in the household, and it makes for a good way to drive yourself crazy.  Where do you keep a spare bottle of ketchup?  Or that army guy toy that the kids were obsessed with for a day and now has disappeared?  Or how about the dress with the torn hem that your daughter wants to wear every last hour of daylight (though frankly you don’t mind when it goes missing for a week)…. And don’t even get me started on missing socks.

July’s Missing Socks, *MASSIVE EYE ROLL*

Being in a state of discombobulation since February when we first listed our house to sell, has been interesting to say the least.  After packing up our first house, we have now been in two temporary housing places while we watch our new house being built.  From packing, to moving, to moving again, and anticipating another move, it turns out I thrive on having a certain amount of control in my life, and therefore become a FREAKING CRAZY PERSON when many things are out of my control.

God is my saving grace.

As is stuffing my face with swiss cake rolls because they melt on your tongue and taste like self confidence.  Not that I do that.  Often.

Okay, a lot.  I do it a lot.

Swiss Cake Rolls, aka Stressed Mom Ambrosia

This season of nomad-ness is hard but fun and awesome but really I’m turning out to be a person riddled with anxiety.  I have found a certain number of things in which I do excel, and because I could use some cheering up, I’m going to list them for you (or me.  Yeah, I’m listing them for me)….

1. I can wedge and pack and ace the most amazing game of Fridge Tetrus known to man.  There is not a fridge (except maybe a dinky mini fridge) that I cannot organize with an overly-full load of groceries… as long as filling the counter with produce is fair game.
2. I am an impressive connoisseur of bins, baskets, storage tubs, and crates.  Need to store random crap? I can tell you of eight stores and their variety of containers that would work best for your stuff.
3. I have a sympathetic ear.  Moving is hard.  Packing is hard.  Feeling displaced is hard.  Juggling multiple children while doing any kind of task is hard.  So when friends have had experiences that left them feeling jumbled and out of their norm, I get it.  I do.  Sympathy is a good salve for stress.

So, three successful things.  That’s somewhat of an accomplishment to balance out my anxiety-riddled non-coping skills, right?

Our kids have done quite well with changing beds, new play spaces, and also not knowing where everything is (unlike their mother).  I guess that’s one more plus side that Brad and I have done a good job of being consistent with our family base, despite the inconsistency of our circumstances.  We may not have a constant house for this spring, summer, or autumn, but our home travels wherever we go.  We are on this crazy adventure together, and that has made all the difference.

House Framing!

Maybe you aren’t living the nomad lifestyle like us, but I am sure there are some big things to endure or overwhelming seasons of life you need to pass through.  Can you think of three things that YOU are doing well?  They don’t have to be big, or marvelous, or sparkly, or involve underwear, but maybe there are a few bright spots in the midst of the dark sky of whatever you’re going through.  Count them out, list them in the comments, say them out-loud; whatever you do, recognize that you can still do hard things.

The H-G Nomads

If you see me around town (or towns because man, we are all over the place these days), plan on me being a little jumbled.  We move to our next borrowed space in T-Minus Four Days, have kids starting new school situations, and there are a lot of mental gymnastics we need to coordinate and organize and not lose our minds over.  Bear with me if I’m not all put together.  Understand that I am doing my best to keep a lot of things running.  I will be accepting prayers, and random batches of homemade cookies to appease my anxiety hunger at night (kidding but not really kidding I love baked goods).

And one last thing?  Please know that my family and I do in fact put on clean undies every day – it might just take a few minutes to remember where we left them.

~M