I sat up late thumbing through memories of the girls when they were younger this evening. Reflecting on so many happy moments together. Questioning if I am making the right decisions for our girls. This Sunday like any fall daylight savings time, we turn back time. For a moment we are happy to gain another hour of sleep. For a moment it seems as if we have the chance to do that. When it is just the opposite. Time keeps fleeting and passing every day. I reflect on a conversation at work with a co-worker today, that as time passes, those moments become more precious, less tangible. It is 2024. By 2034, Hazel will be graduated from high school, Ella three years prior to that. I want to cherish these moments and focus on what is best for us as a family unit.
We have been thinking about our time in Florida. I have a good career , attending FSU for grad school. Jason has time with the girls at home with being in full fledged retirement mode. We have a good life. Something is missing. Being so far from family. We have started discussing moving closer to the DMV, namely coastal Virginia sometime next year. As much as I love the community and friends we have built here in Florida. It is looking like it’s time again for a change. This time not because anyone told us to (NAVY). But because we want to be closer to creating more memories with our extended families in VA and MD.
Regretfully I cannot control time. I can control making more memories for the family. We as a family will make the move to Reedville VA sometime next summer at the latest. Our plans to be in Florida, seemed to have come to an end, and we will start making moves to downsize. As the home (Nani’s and Pop pops cottage on the water) is much smaller in size. I am starting to make adjustments to finish my final year of school through a clinical agency in VA. I will still be pursuing the MSW in Social Work. The girls are resilient as they are military kids, but Ella is taking it harder. She has built friendships not just friendships but her best friend Ella B who she spends every minute of every day by het side. It will be difficult adjusting but we will make it work.
So I leave you with this thought. If you were given the chance would you take the jump into the unknown or keep with business as usual? I have had regrets of not doing this or that for many years when it came to these big decisions. I know Jason is excited for the change. I want to do what’s overall best for everyone. I know that being closer to family as my parents get older and his get older is one of the motivating factors. But time. I cannot get that time back. I can only make the decision of how to spend it, I am willing to take that jump to a slower country lifestyle I am willing to give up this life I have built in Florida. With the intent to create new memories and hold my babies tight while I still can.
The Seascapechronicles 