I started this blog back in 2007 sitting on an empty floor, in an empty living room in Albany, CA, my laptop perched on a cardboard box filled with our stuff. I started writing this blog to distract me from the sadness of leaving. I was mourning because of what I was leaving behind. I even knew that the things I was leaving---classmates, student housing, my Campbell Hall office---weren't permanent. My friends were moving on, too. Heck, my office was about to be torn down. Berkeley, CA was going to move on even if I didn't. I knew this. But it didn't make it less sad. So I started writing, and I haven't stopped.
And here we are again. Another house full of moving boxes. But this time I'm not mourning alone. It hit Owen, too. Owen found an artifact of our old familiar life, one of the old blankets that used to be a permanent fixture of our couch, lying on the floor of the closet. We sat together in the darkness on the blanket, and we cried, together. We cried for the friends we're leaving behind. We cried for the familiar life that will now change. We cried because, as Owen put it, our house feels so empty and it all feels like it's happening too soon.
But it's time to go. A nice couple made an offer on our house Sunday, we countered, and they accepted. It's their house now and it's time for the Johnsons to start anew in our house that's waiting for us in Cambridgeport. It's time to start my new job, make new discoveries, start the year at a new school for the boys, plant new roots, and Erin to restart her career. Also, because it's academia, there are friends there, from Berkeley even!
It's too soon, but at the same time, too long in coming. We've known about this day for a long time now. Jeez, since April. So while it feels too soon, it's also just about time.
And here we are again. Another house full of moving boxes. But this time I'm not mourning alone. It hit Owen, too. Owen found an artifact of our old familiar life, one of the old blankets that used to be a permanent fixture of our couch, lying on the floor of the closet. We sat together in the darkness on the blanket, and we cried, together. We cried for the friends we're leaving behind. We cried for the familiar life that will now change. We cried because, as Owen put it, our house feels so empty and it all feels like it's happening too soon.
But it's time to go. A nice couple made an offer on our house Sunday, we countered, and they accepted. It's their house now and it's time for the Johnsons to start anew in our house that's waiting for us in Cambridgeport. It's time to start my new job, make new discoveries, start the year at a new school for the boys, plant new roots, and Erin to restart her career. Also, because it's academia, there are friends there, from Berkeley even!
It's too soon, but at the same time, too long in coming. We've known about this day for a long time now. Jeez, since April. So while it feels too soon, it's also just about time.
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