When one door closes, another one opens!

In the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith talks about times in his life like when he is trying to get his kid to daycare and the bus, he says, "This is the part of my life I like to call running." I love to name parts of my life too. The time of our life right now is called, "packing." This may sound pretty obvious and simple as of today, but I like to think that it's in these simple times we realize the bigger, more meaningful times. They are the common theme of a time in your life.

Not long ago we were in the "sleepless nights" time, and the "searching for a home" time. We have been in the "working" times and we have been in the "vacation" times. We have had "preggo" and "super preggo" time. "Newborn cuddle" time. "Honeymoon" and "babymoon" time. We had the "commuting" time (twice actually! LOL) and the "all things summer" times.

At the end of the day all of these times of our life, get placed into chapter books that sit on the shelf of our life. We have many chapters in our life, some hard and some fun, some free-spirited and some painful, some anxious and some joyous.

I believe that all of these different "times" in our life make us who we are. I am not one to hold on to things or grudges against people because I believe that it's not the way to live life. Instead I try to learn from it. Living in a townhome means we get to walk the dogs ALL the time...in the snow, in the below zero temps, and in the rain. I have learned from this that I NEVER want to live in a house without a fence again! LOL

But in all seriousness, living here has taught me so much. This was our first home that we got together. This was the first home away from home when we ventured across the country. It's where we learned to rely solely on each other because we were all we had. It's where I bought my first baby home and learned (well, began to learn) how to be a mom.

Am I excited to move into a house FINALLY? You bet. But it's hard for me not to get a little choked up about one chapter of my life closing. I will miss sitting on the balcony (I like to think of it as a tree house because we are surrounded by beautiful trees) and watch the leaves change from green to gold, crimson, and orange. I will miss the long walks around the Hoosier Grove Park. I will miss watching my dogs run across the snow covered golf course like wild animals. I will miss living really, really close to a target, even though I am sure Ollie wont.

I think my friend Lexi described it perfectly. Moving is bittersweet. It's exciting and full of new things and yet it's sad to see one part of your life coming to a close.

Here's the next chapter! May it be even more full than the last. Goodbye Streamwood...Hello Crystal Lake!