"If we don't change we don't grow, if we don't grow, we are not really living." ~ Gail Sheehy

My beautiful nephew

We were surrounded by friends and family this weekend and my heart warms just thinking about our time together. A time of sharing, laughing, playing, talking, and just being with each other. As the evening came to a close, and as so common it is with me, my mind began to swim about the decisions we have made and the change we are inviting, change that will alter everything we have ever known.

I began this blog only a few short months ago in October.  When I began, we were not here in FL, we were exploring Virginia and the prospect of uprooting our family and moving there. Several decisions later, we have committed to moving and committed to change. Our reasons to move? Simply because we have wanted this for so long--to be near the mountains, the four seasons, to have our own land and even hike in it, to grow something, to have animals, to show our children something more than pavement and amusement parks (please know we love our amusement parks!).  I do love the life we have had here and I am scared of leaving what we know behind.  But even so, I am even more scared of leaving a longtime dream behind.

I have written a lot about fear.  I use to resent it and blame it for past mistakes.  But in reflection, I know that my fear plays as much of a role in growth as courage does.  I should have known, it's the yin and yang again.  Balance.  Fear without courage would bring stagnation, courage without fear would be recklessness.  There is comfort in knowing that when growing, one can't happen without the other.  There is comfort in knowing that fear belongs here in the midst our change, gifting us with feeling closer to our family and friends, encouraging us to love and embrace them longer, and helping us remember to make our time together here, that much sweeter.  Okay...bitter--sweeter :).  That, I think, would be balance.