Wednesday, June 13, 2012

I’m not sure where to start with this post. It has been a while since I last wrote and a lot has happened. Our world has been turned upside down recently with our move to Fargo. It was an emotional move for Lindsey and I. It started by watching many of our friends move away before us. Many people from my graduating class lived in our student housing complex, and they took off to different parts of the U.S. There were others as well who graduated and moved on—non-MHAers—which made COMO feel very empty. Then it was time for us to pack up which caused me to really think about those who had left and those I’d leave behind.
It has definitely been the trend the last 6 years for our family to pick up and move but this move was extremely hard. There is something to be said about being transplanted hundreds of miles from everything you’re comfortable with and finding yourself in an environment where you have to make friends that you will rely on because you want to and need to. That is exactly what we did in Minnesota. We made friends who we absolutely trusted and loved. We have a lot of great memories camping, hanging out by the local lakes, cooking big dinners on the holidays, celebrating birthdays, having people over for scones, etc., but we probably had most of our fun hanging out at the COMO playgrounds or cooped up inside together during the winter.
In thinking about how I usually deal with these situations, I realized that I tend to cope with leaving people I’ve become close with by not making much of an effort to keep in contact with them. I did this when I said goodbye to the people I served on my mission. (I basically said goodbye and then stopped all contact with them.) I’ve done the same as we’ve moved around while in school. I know that sounds horrible but I get really attached to people so to think about them but be removed from them makes me depressed. Just writing this post and reflecting on life in MN makes me sad. We’ve been in ND now for 12 days and my coping mechanism has been to stay really busy. Now, I’ve got time to think about what I’ve left and want to stop writing this so I can fill my mind with other things. But I’ve decided that would be a horrible thing to do because there are just too many great memories that are not worth loosing, and there are too many great people who I can’t afford to lose contact with.
I have to give a special shout out to the Nelson family for being awesome friends and for helping us move (Am I even spelling your last name correctly?). Erik was always willing to fix my junker car, paint bikes, and joke about things we shouldn’t have joked about. Jenny became our permanent sitter there towards the end, introduced us to the most amazing burritos, and was quick to shout a "turtleman call" from across the parking lotl. Darla was Jack’s first girlfriend! Bennett was amazing because of his passion to wear certain types of clothes, not wear shoes, and do things his way. And Tate is the "miracle" boy.

 We were basically able to retire Jude's blanket before leaving. We cut it down to its current state which is a little square. Jude will hold it up now and look at it as if it has lost all value.

 Jack and Jude finished up their swimming classes at the YMCA. They both graduated!
Jack and Darla at COMOs spring celebration. 
 These pictures are of our last get together at Ann Lake. The women stayed behind with the babies and left the men to wrangle all these kids. We were close to a lake and caught a lot of sunfish. Jude was in charge of the worms and deferred having his picture taken.



 This is what our couch tends to look like when friends come to build "forts".
 I love getting Ezra up from naps. He has four teeth now and is already standing his ground when he doesn't like the way things are going. Mostly just a smiling, happy kid.

I'm not a huge sports fan (that may be an understatement) but I thought it was cool that the company I now work for sent my family tickets to the Twins game. Had to leave before it ended because the kids weren't to into it. They probably thought they were on another planet since I've never had them watch sports.
 
 We took one last trip to the Natural History museum. This museum was great because their was a large room dedicated to hands on learning.
Ezra skinned this raccoon all by himself? Maybe this is why he came home sick. Are you supposed to let your baby play with animal skins?
Jack was a little upset he didn't find any boogers.
Jude and Tate.

 This is how Jack dresses when he wants to impress his friends!
 I finally graduated. This is me walking out after the graduation ceremony ended. I'm yelling up at Jude who was too busy playing my iPhone to pay any attention to my grand accomplishment. I don't blame him.
 And here are my truck driving buddies. We took off for Fargo in the U-Haul but started off by making a major mistake which was to give Jack and Jude lemonade from Wendy's. Jude drank and drank and it wasn't five minutes into the trip that I had to pull off the side of the road to let him relieve himself. We then got back on the road only to have him request another stop. I couldn't pull off fast enough in our large truck so he ended up having an accident. I eventually got him out of the truck after which he went pee three times before I eventually got him all cleaned up. I guess we will be cutting back on the beverages next road trip. You can google how long it takes to drive from Minneapolis to Fargo and then tack on 3 hours for all the stops we had to make.
Yeah! We made it to Fargo. I'll post more of what we've been up to shortly.

3 comments:

Jaci said...

Your posts are so neat! I love this one-- so many last moments before your move! But it made me sad! Yet also excited for you guys in your new chapter of life! Hope you all fall in love with Fargo just like you did Minnesota!

melissa said...

i just cried. thanks a lot.

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