M is for Moving (by Paula Chapman)

For this year's A-Z Challenge, I am organising my writing group's participation for the first time. So I am posting each entry here as well as on the website, Write On, Mamas! who are a writing group based in the San Francisco North Bay area. We will have 25 Mamas and one Papa writing on a different letter of the alphabet during the A-Z Blog Challenge. Comments are always so appreciated, but would be lovely if you would comment on the Write On, Mamas! blog so the author will read your comment. Thanks and look forward to reading your blog.

Photography by Mary Allison Tierney

Thirteen years in the same house. I have never lived in one spot that long in my life, and find myself itching to move onto the next place. A house and yard is easy to leave behind, but what isn't easy are the relationships made during that time. Parents of my son's friends who are now some of our best friends. Neighbors who we might not see everyday but are always there if you need them. Co-workers who lend a sympathetic ear over coffee. The writing group that offers a short creative retreat from life's responsibilities once a month.

For the first time, my excitement about moving will be colored with nostalgia about what we leave behind. No more elementary school fund raisers. No more big birthday parties for the kids in the backyard. No more speaking at LitCrawl with the Write On Mamas. No more shorts and flip flops during fall and winter (after all, we are moving from Marin to Minneapolis). Despite all of this, I am excited for the change. My son has never lived near family in his short ten years and can't wait to hang out with Grandpa and Grandma and his cousins. We can't wait to give him that opportunity.

Paula Chapman was a journalism major, spending many years in the world of corporate communication before taking a detour into the world of finance. Today she enjoys writing personal essay and memoir and has performed some of her pieces at LitQuake and The Mama Monologues.