Morgan Marshall

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

-Winnie the Pooh

Moving is always hard because it is always filled with mixed emotions.

As I have considered my transition from Texas back to Colorado, I’ve thought, “Why is this move so hard?” And then I’ve realized that it’s because this was an unexpected transition. Every other move I have made has come at the end of something significant with a specific and known end date. For example, when I graduated High School and moved to Oklahoma for college. There was a specific date that high school would end and college would begin. The same thing happened at the end of college. Those goodbyes were hard, but we were expecting them to be hard for months. We had time to prepare for goodbyes, craft all the right words, and do all of the best things together before the transition hit.

This time it was different. This time the transition was not predicted or expected. It was not something that was set to hit after being in one place for five years. That means that all of those emotions hit in new ways. I have had days where I’m flooded with emotions and have been so sad to not be around “my people” anymore. I had to say goodbye to people that I love in big groups and in ways where I simply didn’t have the words to express everything they mean to me.

Leaving a place you love is hard. …But to be honest, I never really “loved” Texas like true Texans do. What is truly hard about leaving is the people. I love the people I have grown to know over the past five years. And they know me. To be known and loved is an incredible feeling.

During my last few weeks and days leading up to the big move, many people expressed how excited I must be to get to be close to my family again. That is very true. I am so excited to be close to my parents again after nine years away (and maybe one day my brother and sister-in-law will join us too…). But my family is also in Texas. I have lived with several families, spent uncountable meals with others, been to all the big events (graduations, recitals, games) with others, and with some, it’s simply been living normal life with them and doing everyday things. And that is family. Those people are my family. They are my brothers and sisters, my nieces and nephews…my family. They invited me into everyday things and let me be part of their immediate family while I was away from my immediate family.

And to those individuals, families, parents, and children… I am forever grateful. They are the family I will miss living back in Colorado. They are the family I will miss going to the grocery store with, stopping by their homes on walks, and eating meals around their tables.

If you have experienced a move recently, or maybe you have had a close friend move away recently, I encourage you to continue in steadfast prayer for one another. Remember that God has not changed and He is still the same God no matter what location you live in or who lives close to you. He is a God we can trust in the transitions, laments, and everything in between. He provides all that we need, even new friends and family. …But he has also given us technology and Facetime, so use that as a good grace during and after transitions 😉

To my Texas Family, I love you. I miss you. And I am grateful for you.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:3-6 (ESV)