Transitioning Home from Home

I took this terribly unflattering picture of myself the other day, after I looked in the mirror and noticed the Pittsburgh 'P' peeking out from my Boston sweatshirt. It seemed symbolic, given our impending move from Boston to Pittsburgh, like Pittsburgh is pushing Boston aside. Okay, it's not that deep; I mostly thought it was funny. (And really doesn't match!)

Trying to come up with a title for this post, it occurred to me that we are leaving the place we currently call home to return to a place we used to call home. I grew up in the great city of Pittsburgh, just outside the city limits in Penn Hills. My husband's family moved to Pittsburgh when he was in middle school, and settled in Upper St. Clair. We both attended college in the city. After spending the majority of my life in one place , I married that nice man I met in college and he brought me up to Cambridge, MA with him, just two weeks after our wedding.

As a couple, this is the only place we have ever called home.

In our time here, we've double in size; a couple became a family. Together we move to a place full of memories, a former home becoming our new home.

I wonder how long we'll stay there. Will we settle there for years or decades? Or will it be just a couple of years before God takes us on to something else? Either way, I will invest in being there. We will make friends. We will join a church. We will LOVE being near family. We will explore the city. We will embrace our Pittsburgh roots. We will eat terrible-for-you-but-taste-so-good Pittsburgh treats. And if you come to visit, we'll make it worth your while!!! (Please, come visit, we'd love to see you!)

Investing in life here in Cambridge has been such a blessing. We could have been here as short as 4 or 5 years. As it turns out, we've been here longer. I am so sad to go. So. Very. Sad. But isn't that the way you want it to be? I remember my mother-in-law telling of a woman she knew who moved a lot and decided she'd never put down roots anywhere because she couldn't bear the pain of having to leave a place she loved, over and over again.

She was miserable.

There will be many tears shed as we leave this place. But I would not have it any other way. It means that this dear old city has a place in my heart and that there are precious friendships we'll now maintain from a distance. I can't wait to bring our kids back over the coming years and show them were our family got it all started! The good Lord had serious purposes in bringing us here. How we've grown and changed!

I'm joyfully anticipating what He as for us as we begin to call the city formerly known as home home again.