Isn't moving the ultimate betrayal? Here you and everyone around you thought you loved this place, you loved hanging out with them, you could stay here forever, you were happy here. And maybe you were. (We were.) But then you decide to move away, and it's a BETRAYAL. The moment you decided to accept that job offer, you were planning for a different life that didn't include this place, these people, those things. It's an awful feeling.
I've had such mixed feelings about this move. I think sometimes you decide to move and from that moment until you actually leave the city limits for the last time, all you can see are the things you really didn't like about that place. That's not the case with this move - I have felt so much unexpected sadness about leaving the UAE (and some expected sadness, too). Our five years in the UAE are the longest we've lived anywhere as a family, so if we can be said to have roots anywhere, well, it's here.
And so as we've entered the packing phase, I've felt a little like we're moving back in time, or opening a time capsule. I'm uncovering treasures of toys, clothes, and books from 2-year-old Magdalena and 5-year-old Miriam, fresh from Ithaca and ready for an adventure. As we sell off a few items of furniture here and there, our house is looking more and more like it did when we first moved in. It's like looking at a snapshot of life from almost five years ago (and Sterling is almost the right age to be a little Magdalena).
Moving - a bittersweet betrayal of our memories, possessions, friends, and favorite places. That's all it is.
