Battling the What Ifs and the Should Haves

It's been three years since we moved to Utah from Miami. Three years. And yes, we are still battling the "what ifs" and the "should haves" and the "moving fever." You see, we are nomads at heart. The world calls to us to see it's beauty, experience it's differences, delight in it's ever-expanding cultural grandeur. Most of the time, it isn't enough for us to simply travel somewhere and spend a week there (though that is usually what we resort to). Something really magical happens when you put down roots somewhere - not deep roots necessarily, I'm not talking about making a home for your grandchildren here. No I'm talking about setting down your suitcase, unloading your skivvies into the top drawer of the dresser that you have packed half-way across the world in your over-full Penske truck, and pulling out your old, chipped mug that you picked up on your very first trip to British Columbia and sitting down at the kitchen table to just take it all in. You are now a local.  It might be for a few months and it might be for a year or two, but in an instant you are rooted to that place in a way that you would never be if you were viewing this place as merely a "visitor." It's a change in the way you view a place. You now have neighbors, you are part of this place, it's heartbeat, it's breath. It's different. It's wonderful, and we crave that in our lives.

The downside for us to this desire to live anywhere and everywhere else sets in right about the time we have lived somewhere for a few years. We start to think "what if" we moved to France, or we "should have" taken that job and moved to New Hampshire when we had the chance. Then "moving fever" sets in hard and we find ourselves perusing real estate web sites for Ireland at three in the morning. It's a sickness. We will admit that much to ourselves, but shhhh...we don't like to say it out loud. Don't get me wrong, we love where we currently live. It's just that.... finding contentment and peace with where we are (geographically speaking that is) is something we battle every year. (Do I sound certifiably insane yet?)

Are you still with me? Here is where I am going with this: Just when we start going crazy with the possibilities of this destination or that foreign country, September arrives in Utah and we become content with our choice to move here. We spent Sunday on a beautiful drive through the mountains around Salt Lake Valley. With each turn we were oohing and aahing. Each rotation of our tires bringing us closer to yet another beautiful rust-colored canyon more beautiful than the last. Each tree and leaf becoming more and more spectacular. Looking around, we realized that sometimes you have to stop thinking about the green grass on the other side of the fence and really live in the moment. Be happy where you are. Grow where you are planted. Afterall, we are experiencing a world that not everyone gets to see. Until now...

Pull out your old chipped mug and have a seat. You just became a local (for a few minutes).