There are a lot of people I am leaving behind. The last four years I have developed a Seattle-based community I feel very connected to. It's mostly a mix of college friends, colleagues, and extended family. It is a network that begs for permanence. After a childhood of moving with the military I was keen on building that life of permanence, yet I had also been hankering for change. That was unsurprising as our world has built-in change every 3-5 years (changing schools, getting promotions, etc.) and my desires are often conflicting I thought Cameron and I had found the perfect solution; we were looking to buy a condo on the East Side which seemed the perfect way to start a new phase of our life without having to leave the world we had built up.
Clearly that didn't work out, because we now are days away from moving to Kraków, Poland. Cameron flies out on Friday, September 20th and I leave Washington about a week later—Saturday, September 28th. Coworkers ask: "are you excited?"- yes; "Are you nervous?"- yes; "Are you anxious?"- yes; "You are going to have such a great time!"- I know. Anything that you ask about my emotional state is going to be true, because I feel every emotion. Stress and anxiety are unfortunately the most prevalent, but I attribute that mostly to the transient life we are currently living in. As I write this the only furniture in our house is a coffee table, three chairs, and a borrowed air mattress. Work is another big stress—I am trying to manage expectations and deadlines while balancing moving-related needs.
Maintaining a persistent mid-tier level of stress has amplified all of the fears and sadnesses of moving. I've cried daily, wallowing in the unhappiness of rehoming our pet rabbits and the now-daily goodbyes to good friends and loved ones. Logically, I know that this move is good for us and I look forward to the adventures and opportunities, but right now I'm in the rut of it. I think this group of people around us can withstand our 1–4 year move, but I also know that most promises to "keep in touch" are overly optimistic.
Sorry everyone—I didn't mean to get dark on the first post! But that brings me to the ground rules of this blog. I am primarily writing this in responses to the requests from folks to "stay in touch" and I want to be known as someone who can keep her promises. Rather than coordinating emails with everyone, this seemed like the best way to let you all know how and what I'm doing. The (loose) rules I am setting for myself are:
- Write at least weekly, even if it is just a paragraph
- Use a documentary-style of writing, similar to my backpacking journals
- Cameron requested that I don't make fun of him in the blog- no promises, but the request will be considered
- Rules are subject to change
It's getting late now (9:11pm is 11 minutes past my bed time!) but I want to give myself some potential topics for the next post:
- Why the name "Aackle in Kraków"
- The timeline and reason for our move
- The good-bye parties
- What I know about Kraków
- Expectations of the future: work, travel, vistors
Thanks for reading! Let me know if there's something about the move that you want me to cover and I'll add it to the future topics list.
-Aisha
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