Many times that I’m writing here, I’m writing to remember a particular time in my life — to make sense of it in the moment and to create a place to reference in the future, should I or anyone else need it. While I imagine the experience we went through last year — moving a young family from one home to another in middle childhood — might be somewhat singular for me, I still want to record it for posterity. (I say “singular” because while we never know for sure what’s ahead, I can easily imagine a life in which our next big move is as empty nesters. And since our first big move was from an apartment, sans children, that would make the move we undertook last year a singular experience in our life. Which is a crazy thought!) Still, even if I never need to use my own advice again, we did learn a few things along the way, and I’d love to share them with you. I also know that many of you are seasoned movers with a deeper well of experience to offer than me, and I’d love to hear from you in the comments. If not for my benefit (staying put as I intend to!), then for our fellow readers :)  The first bag of trash (OF MANY) and the first collection of boxes to go to storage How does it work to sell and buy a house? First, my biggest question when we approached this move was how to order its cadence — when do we put the house we’re selling on the market? When do we schedule the moving truck? — and it was frustrating to feel like I never got a clear, satisfactory answer from any party. Not their fault: now on

Big update over here, friends: we are under contract to buy a new house. !!! This came to pass in a quite unusual and stressful manner, because the house went on the market while we were in Maine. (Our realtor, to boot, was also on vacation.) We submitted our offer on Sunday night, learned there were multiple offers and submitted a new offer (and then another one) on Monday, and finally found out our offer was accepted on Monday night. We came home on Wednesday night and saw the house for the first time on Thursday night. While we hadn’t stepped foot inside, we were familiar with the house – it is in our same neighborhood, right around the corner from one of Shep’s buddies, and is one we had had our eye on for over a year. It checks a lot of our boxes – cul-de-sac location, flat driveway, separate dining room, bigger backyard, space for an office, even the possibility of a mudroom – and we are super grateful. That does not mean that the last few weeks have been without challenges. I wish I could say we’ve been uniformly blissful and brave, but alas I am a person who deeply dislikes change. In addition to staying on top of the piles of paperwork required to buy and sell a home – as well as fixing things up around our current home, coordinating completion of the rest of the punch list, streamlining our belongings and beginning to pack what remains – I’ve been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I am excited, of course, and grateful, but also fearful of leaving the security of our current corner of the neighborhood and all the good we have here, fearful of something “better” coming on the market in

Several times a month I am tickled to receive a thoughtful query from an Em for Marvelous reader. I have a somewhat disappointing response rate – which makes me sad every time I think about it – but when life does allow, I love to respond, because figuring out life together is one of my very favorite things. I recently had a conversation over email about moving away from family that begged to be shared with the group, and Leslie was gracious to agree. Listen in, and I look forward to hearing what you think in the comments! Leslie wrote: My name is Leslie, and I’ve read your blog for a few years now. It’s always a delight to read your thoughtful posts with the many questions/issues/topics that are relevant to me and my family (i.e. the practical handlings of two working parents… #preach). I am sure it takes a considerable amount of time, but for myself, it is truly much enjoyed and much appreciated! I currently live in Texas with my husband and two boys (4 and 2). We are both in the medical field and are looking at a move in the next two years for further training purposes. One location we have thrown into the hat of possibilities is – you guessed it – North Carolina. From what I’ve gathered, you and your husband moved away from both of your families to NC. Our move would involve a similar situation, as my entire family and my husband’s parents also live in our current city (though neither of us were born/raised here). My question for you is simply – was it worth it? I hope that doesn’t sound rude or intrusive, we are just very seriously weighing our possibilities, and NC has come up as a pretty ideal