When I came out to college all those years ago, I hung out with Kjirsten and her then little family a lot! I was pretty homesick, and they took me in probably more than they would have liked. Kj and I got to have lots and lots of talks and I really enjoyed every single one.
During one of these talks, she told me some advice that my dad had given her when she got married. He said, "love your ward." If you don't totally understand what that means, basically, love where you live and the people that make up your community.
When we moved out here to Evanston 5 years ago, I did NOT love it! It took us about 2 years to actually get comfortable here and really start to enjoy the ins and outs of small town living. I've had many friends come and go over the years. Some hated it here from the beginning and never had space in their heart to 'love where they live', and others never even let themselves think a single bad thought about the town because it was 'their' town from the very start. I've learned a lot from ALL of these friends.
Recently, I was reading a blog where she would do a post every so often about loving where you live. I really wish I could remember the blog because she deserves some credit, maybe I'll be able to add it later. Anyway, I loved that idea.
So today, I'm loving where I live. Even though spring is having a hard time hanging on, and we had to play at the park in the snow because we couldn't stay trapped in the house one more second, we are loving it!
The kids thought it was quite the treat to jump off the slide into snowy puddles! And I thought it was a treat to feel the warm sun on my face and smell the fresh cold air.
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that's good advice. when you're not very excited to have to move, it can be really easy to have a negative attitude, but if you're open to change, you'll be happier in the long run. it took me awhile to get used to our neighborhood when we moved here, but now i absolutely LOVE it. i can't believe there was a time that that wasn't the case. i don't see one negative thing about it, and now that moving again is getting more real, it makes me sad. i'll miss it. but i need to remember to make our new place a 'home' and love it from day one. (we're not moving yet, but discussions are starting to come up, more than usual)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this post! And I love the reminder to keep a positive attitude about the place you live. So nice! Evanston was hard for me to begin with but I adjusted fairly quickly (thanks to you!). Miss you, Sarah! Call me when you a get a chance. ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat great words to live by! I remember those college days too! We sure loved having you nearby and over to hang out and play with little Joshy! Good job loving where you live and enjoying the highlights- you are a great example of a positive attitude!
ReplyDeleteAwwww, you and I just talked about this not too long ago! I guess good advice never dies. :) Thanks for posting about it . . . especially yesterday (Wed.), since I was out of commission with Lukie. Love you!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I had never thought of the motto "Love where you live", I totally live by it! After having Olivia and being so busy with school, and feeling like I never saw B, etc, I found myself having a lot of "down" days. That's when I realized I need to get out of the house more and ENJOY where I live! And I felt like I did. Well I know I did because I was so sad to move. Now being here, I knew from the beginning that I just needed to dig around and find all the special things this place has to offer, whether its activities or friends. I'm still digging, but we've found some really fun things that we love about this area (that oddly enough I never knew when I lived here for 18 years before). A great motto to live by!
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