The dust is settling in our new abode! We're in, we're completely unpacked, and we're gettin' cozier as the days pass.
Two Thursdays ago, Nick left Fredericksburg driving a 26 foot moving truck carrying all of our worldly belongings and towing one of our vehicles. He'd never driven anything like this before, let alone across several states, so I will admit I was a bit nervous about his trek. When I saw him reverse this monster moving truck into our driveway with ease, I breathed a slow sigh of relief and admonished myself for doubting the man's skills. Still, as he drove away that Thursday morning, my chest tightened a little--for me, because this was the first instance in which we've been separated since Arlo's birth, and for him, because YUCK, what an unbearably long and stressful commute he had ahead of him. Did I mention that his copilots for this voyage were Jordan, our 11 year old Westie, and Birdie, our cantankerous 11 year old cat? Much to our immense relief, Nick's dad flew into Lexington, KY, boarded this crazy train, and helped him make the remainder of the drive to Cape Girardeau.
Arlo and I stayed back in Virginia, and spent a lovely long weekend with my sister and her family. It was a treat to live in their world for a while, to wave to my precocious niece in the mornings as she boarded the school bus and to greet her at the end of the driveway when she arrived home in the afternoons, to lay on the couch with my sister in the late evenings and watch tv until bedtime like we used to do when we were little girls. The comfort of knowing that she is just an hour and half’s drive away is probably what I will miss most about my life in Virginia.
We had a farewell dinner with Nick's parents and siblings, another with my parents and childhood bestie, a farewell lunch with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle, and a farewell dinner with my close friends, Deborah and Sarah, and their son, Jackson. When our Tuesday morning flight rolled around, I felt full-up on love from very important people in my life, and I was ready to get on a plane to the Show Me State and start a new chapter in our family's life. Grandma Susan met me and Arlo at the St. Louis airport, the best kind of welcome wagon a travel-weary daughter-in-law and grandson could ask for.
Arlo and I have been Missourians now for an entire week (Nick for a little longer), and this has come with great highlights. We've seen Nick's sister, Hannah, who also lives here in Cape, more times in this last week than we've sometimes seen her in an entire year. We had a lovely weekend visit from Great Grandma Millie, Grandma Susan, Grandpa Elbe, and Great Aunt Karen. We were so excited for Arlo to finally meet Grandma Millie, who has showered Arlo with such love from afar over these last 10 months.
Nick is slowly getting acclimated to his new gig, navigating the mental obstacle course of a new job. He seems to like it thus far, and he feels confident that he'll enjoy it once he gets the hang of it all.
We like the house we're renting, and we're slowly learning the lay of our new 'hood. Arlo and I have been taking long late-morning walks each day, taking a different route each time. I'm unsure how I feel about Cape as a city. We have a lot to explore and discover still.
The day before Nick left to make his way to Missouri, I took Arlo for one last, super long walk around our hometown. I suggested the walk to Nick as a good idea for keeping Arlo from underfoot while he, his dad, James, and a friend conducted the heavy lifting and loading of the moving truck. But, really, it was more about my need to say goodbye to my city. We passed the hospital where I used to work, the one in which he was born almost ten months ago. We stopped into the park and had one last romp with the babies of the moms group. We walked past monuments to famous presidents, past historic plantation houses of presidential family members, one garden of which we’ve crashed many a time for an impromptu nursing sesh. We had a quiet lunch at my favorite bakery, and the sandwich was disappointing, which was a needed reminder that not everything is perfect about this city I was leaving. The maple shortbread cookie more than made up for it, and as I savored it during a continuation of our walk, Arlo unknowingly dumped one of my fave books of his out of the stroller and onto the sidewalk, never to be seen again. I took this as a little nudge from karma, and we stopped by the library and settled up the late fees I was about to skip town on. I bought an Americano from downtown’s beloved caffeine hub, and while the barrista, who always seems to remember how many months ArloCSA goodies every week. And then we walked back to our empty house, farewell tour complete.
Our new city won’t hold the same magic, it’s certain. It’s not really walkable in the same way. I’ve not yet found the little shops strung together like a quirky garland here, if there even are any. I did find the library–it’s gorgeous–and I got a new library card and the schedule for weekly storytime for Arlo. We found a neat family farm just a very short drive from our house, and we visited it over the weekend, took a tour, bought our humanely grown, organic meat and eggs. Arlo mingled with free-ranging chickens, spied on grand ol’ turkeys, and toddled after barn cats.
That’s right.
Toddled.
In the middle of the chaos of the last two weeks, Arlo started walking. My kid is WALKING. And clapping. And clapping while he’s walking. It’s the kind of adorable that kicks you right in the gut, leaves you reeling.
We've been taking lots of pictures, filming some videos, and we hope to share them soon!
