I met my husband in Paris. Six months into our relationship, I moved (back) to London, and so we spent a time taking in turns to visit each other in Paris and London. Ten months after that, he took a job in Dublin, and I decided to move there, too. After two years, we moved back to Paris, and got married there - here - a few weeks later.
Love this. I went to grad school at a Benedictine university and worked there for many years after. Even from afar I learned so much from the monastics about stability. Their stewardship of the place - the land, the buildings, the people, the resources, the possibilities - is such a huge part of their charism and it's changed how I think about my own home & small piece of land.
Yes, there's so much richness to be drawn from the notion of stability! Stewardship of place is such a valuable spiritual practice, especially in the world we live in today.
I loved this reflection on stability. Growing up, I moved 7 times before I turned 13, and then once I entered adulthood, I moved another 4 times. I met my husband and we've lived in the same place (town/area, but one move to a larger space for our family) for 10 years, which is the longest I've lived anywhere in my life. It was hard to shake the feeling of wanting to move again, but more recently I've found myself looking at ways I can really make this a home (not physically, but in my heart) and I've come to really enjoy it. I really loved your thoughts and reflections on this.
Yes, I totally relate to that itch of wanting to move again after having moved a lot over the years. We're always in conversation about another move, and saying it will be the "final" move, but I can't imagine ever really being able to shake the desire to move (whilst simultaneously wanting to put down roots.)
This was such a great piece, Gina. I am SO guilty of wanderlust! And especially of thinking the 'perfect place' will solve all our problems. We actually almost moved in a fit of discontent last year - which was insane looking back - we love where we live and it would have made zero financial sense - but what we really needed to do was do the deep-down hard work of figuring out why things felt so hard (and yes some of it is because of the realities of the lifestyle/house etc. we've chosen, but not all), and not just trying to up and leave when things got a little dicey. Have I dreamed of living in nearly every place you have lived in? YES! But you're absolutely right - wherever you go, there you are. I love this idea of a vow of stability. St. Scholastica (Benedictine founder) is my saint of the year and I'm taking this to heart.
Yep, I am very guilty of thinking that moving will solve my problems when I start to feel frustrated or bored or otherwise unhappy. Aside from the fact that it obviously won't, moving house once you have kids and a whole life is a very different (and much worse) deal to moving as a single early 20-something...
Love this. I went to grad school at a Benedictine university and worked there for many years after. Even from afar I learned so much from the monastics about stability. Their stewardship of the place - the land, the buildings, the people, the resources, the possibilities - is such a huge part of their charism and it's changed how I think about my own home & small piece of land.
Yes, there's so much richness to be drawn from the notion of stability! Stewardship of place is such a valuable spiritual practice, especially in the world we live in today.
I loved this reflection on stability. Growing up, I moved 7 times before I turned 13, and then once I entered adulthood, I moved another 4 times. I met my husband and we've lived in the same place (town/area, but one move to a larger space for our family) for 10 years, which is the longest I've lived anywhere in my life. It was hard to shake the feeling of wanting to move again, but more recently I've found myself looking at ways I can really make this a home (not physically, but in my heart) and I've come to really enjoy it. I really loved your thoughts and reflections on this.
Yes, I totally relate to that itch of wanting to move again after having moved a lot over the years. We're always in conversation about another move, and saying it will be the "final" move, but I can't imagine ever really being able to shake the desire to move (whilst simultaneously wanting to put down roots.)
This was such a great piece, Gina. I am SO guilty of wanderlust! And especially of thinking the 'perfect place' will solve all our problems. We actually almost moved in a fit of discontent last year - which was insane looking back - we love where we live and it would have made zero financial sense - but what we really needed to do was do the deep-down hard work of figuring out why things felt so hard (and yes some of it is because of the realities of the lifestyle/house etc. we've chosen, but not all), and not just trying to up and leave when things got a little dicey. Have I dreamed of living in nearly every place you have lived in? YES! But you're absolutely right - wherever you go, there you are. I love this idea of a vow of stability. St. Scholastica (Benedictine founder) is my saint of the year and I'm taking this to heart.
Yep, I am very guilty of thinking that moving will solve my problems when I start to feel frustrated or bored or otherwise unhappy. Aside from the fact that it obviously won't, moving house once you have kids and a whole life is a very different (and much worse) deal to moving as a single early 20-something...