I want to tell y’all something.
I don’t consider myself to be very attached to “stuff”. I’m always the one in the family pleading with the others to give things away, or put another box of our things in a yardsale. If someone needs something, I’ll usually let them have mine, even if it’s the last one I have. When nice dishes break, when hot chocolate is spilled on my [formerly gorgeous] white couch, when the dog guts a pillow, it’s not the end of the world. It’s just “stuff”. For real. It’s just stuff.
But… Seeing everything my family is taking with us to Poland
–3 duffles and assorted carry-ons–caused an emotional reaction. I’m not even sure what that emotion would be called.
It’s one thing to be a young person with a duffle or a backpack, leaving to spend two to three months abroad.
It’s another thing to have a family depend on you and realize that the legal documents, the electronics, the books, the financial necessities–along with everything you don’t want to have to buy when you get to your new home–must fit into those bags (and must stay within the weight limit).
We’re leaving a lot behind. It’s hard. Not just stuff. Homes. Church. Friends. Culture.
For the first time in this whole, very long process, I feel mournful. But I think it’s wholesome and right to feel this way. It doesn’t make me look forward to Poland any less. I’m finally realizing just how much I’m going to miss my home in the Lynchburg/Amherst area.
Here are some other pictures from the past couple days.
Meandering Meltons 