Last Monday, I thought to myself, “Wow, 2013 has been relatively smooth”. That is a good thing because 2012 was challenging. You can read about that on the “Love, Loss and What We Ate” post. Afterwards, I was going about my day and things were going well…and then we received an unfortunate email. It was from our landlord saying that we were going to need to move out of our apartment. Due to a situation that was going on within their family, part of the family was going to need to move into the apartment. I should have waited until the end of the year before declaring to myself how smoothly it had flowed. I thought too soon!
Moving is one of my least favorite things to do. I’m a homebody who likes to be settled and not move around too much. To me, moving is time and energy consuming. It is also a money pit in NYC – when there’s first month’s rent, last month’s rent, a security deposit, broker fees and moving fees. Initially, I thought “Oh, no! We’re homeless for the holidays.” (Yes…I can be a bit dramatic in my head. Obviously, we’re not homeless. We just need to find a new place to live.) While I’m not happy about the upcoming move, I was able to talk myself into a better mood. Our lease isn’t up until June, so we do have some time. Of course, we want to be sensitive towards our landlord’s situation, so if we find a great fit before then, we will move as soon as possible.
What I (re) learned last week is that gratitude definitely helps my heart. On Friday, our family helped to throw a holiday party at a transitional home/shelter for women and their young children in the Bronx. Being around people who truly didn’t have a home to call their own helped me to get a more realistic grasp of things. While unexpectedly needing to move is a bit of a challenge, things could be much worse. I’m grateful that my family has options.
We had a wonderful time at the party. Michael and Sean had a blast – eating, playing games, and participating in the white elephant exchange and such with the kids from the home. My kids have so much (as a result of their parents’ work in addition to the generosity of family and friends). That is why it is especially good for them to serve others their age. It reinforces that everyone can give something. It also helps them to see that even when things are a little challenging for them, there are other children who are going through much more challenging situations with great attitudes. In any event, everyone – volunteers and shelter residents alike – had a really great time.
I needed those reminders about faith and gratitude! I’ll share with you how the boys took the moving news and how we helped them work through their feelings in another post. (The good news is that once we parents have worked through our emotions, it’s usually much easier to help our kids work through their feelings…)