living in the in-between | pt. 2

 

In one of my recent posts I shared with y’all about us selling our big dream home to downsize and live closer to downtown Greenville. Today I want to share with y’all a little more about our transition – which includes a temporary apartment until we can get a closing date on our new home.

A temporary apartment isn’t high on the “things I’d love to do” list especially with a three year old and two dogs, but then again it is only… temporary.

Our old home was 3200sqft with 4 bedrooms and this little two bed room apartment is 1100sqft. It has certainly brought on a litany of adjustment issues, namely the tinnnnnny kitchen! Part of the reason I fell in love with our old home was the gigantic kitchen so to go from this big gourmet-style kitchen to a small galley kitchen was a huge adjustment for me (although, our first home in Jacksonville, NC had a tiny kitchen too, but that was 6+ years ago so I’ve moved on 😉

Thankfully, settling in to this new-temporary has been pretty easy. Mila adjusted like a champ and I truly believe she likes the smaller space. I can’t explain it but she seems happier, which is encouraging since our new house is only 600sqft bigger than this apartment.

Living in the in-between has been interesting. I have a deeper appreciation for one-story living and being in closer quarters with my family. Vincent and I have had to really work on communication, especially in the kitchen so we don’t constantly bump into each other. Not having a garage in the SC heat, as well has having to haul things up and down a flight of stairs has been different too.

One of the best perks of this move is Vince’s commute is less than 10 minutes! He has come home for lunch a few times and is home much earlier because he isn’t trying to wait out the traffic. Yesterday he was home at 5:30 and I genuinely didn’t know what to do…. so we headed to the pool. Like Mila, I’ve noticed his mood has made a huge shift too. Maybe neither of us realized just how much weight was on his shoulders because of his commute. I mean, from day to day his commute could range from 20 minutes to 45 minutes. While he doesn’t mind driving, he does get easily frustrated with the drivers around him (I mean I get mad too when people are just chillin’ in the left lane going under the speed limit. That’s illegal people! Move over. Jus’ sayin) but he has been in a much better mood when he walks in the door. And to be honest, we’ve been a lot happier together since the move. We have both really tried to be more minimalistic in certain areas and we even started a new diet that we both feel great on. After being together for over 11+ years it’s nice to feel reconnected in a way that happened so organically. Praise God!

Through it all I can’t help but be so grateful. Every season brings new challenges and I’m learning to really find the fun and adventure in it all.  Being that our apartment is so close to everything, we have been spending a lot more time out than sitting around inside. This past weekend we went to the Saturday Market, explored Main Street, had dinner with friends, spent some time at a book store, took Mila to her first movie, painted Mila’s nails for the first time, and went on a walk with the pups. It’s been nice…. no, it’s been amazing.

A few months ago, our pastor talked about learning to love the in between seasons of life, whether they are good or bad. To not miss God’s message in those transition seasons. I remember sitting there reflecting on some of the difficult transition seasons but being able to look back with so much appreciation because those were the seasons where I grew the most, and my marriage weathered the most (more on that tomorrow 😉 )

Change isn’t clearly defined. It can be good or bad…. but mostly it’s just different. Living in the in between has been different for us but I’m thankful for this season.

 

“He’s the God of every story,
He sees each tear that falls.
We may not understand but one thing is certain.
He is faithful, He’s a faithful God.”

-“God of Every Story” Laura Story

And here are some photos of Mila, because she’s pretty awesome.

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