I just confirmed my move date with the movers and car transport people. June 25, 2008 is my last full day as a Californian. That makes me a 10-year veteran of the state almost to the week. In the middle of June 1998, my family moved from Chicago. I remember the anticipation of a brand-new life, new school for my senior year 
, new swim team, new friends.
The transition wasn’t easy either. I saw my mom cry for almost the first time. The airport personnel took our dog, Page, away in a kennel and she was barking away. As the barks started to fade, Mom started to cry. She sounded like she was laughing at first, but her body told a different story, tears down her face, slumped shoulders, folded arms. Dad put his arm around her shoulder for a tender hug, kissed her on the back of her head, and whispered a few words of encouragement and understanding.
Later, she explained that the move was the biggest in her life. Sure, she’d moved before, but nothing to this scale. She lived in Riverside, IL, for most of her life. When she and dad got married, they lived in her childhood home with Grandpa until they moved to Bolingbrook. They’d been moved 3-4 times in the city. Nothing had prepared her for this. This move marked the end of life as she knew it. Her close and supportive friends were gone. The comfort with the area was gone. Really, her whole life as she knew it was gone. Dad had already done this when he moved from Minnesota to marry her, so it wasn’t as deeply significant for him.
I’m now faced with this transition again, but this time without any support moving along with me. I’m really looking forward to all the “news” that await me in DC. I’m also afraid of the “what-ifs” and the “how tos”. I mean with all the cosmic forces that have coalesced to bring me to this job have definitely done this for a reason, and I’m sure that the transition will be quick and solid.
