More About the Move

So you already know that we are moving. But what you don't know is that we are moving to a little bitty town in central Texas. Seriously. Little. Bitty. As in 3300 people little bitty. Yep. No middle ground for us. We go from the gigantic metroplex to little bitty. Kinda like we went from our teeny tiny, below the growth chart first child to our I can't believe how big he is, top of the growth chart second child. Like I said...no middle ground for this family.


So anyway, I'm a little nervous about this. Ok, I admit it, I'm a lot nervous. I mean seriously...Walmart is 45 minutes away! I have to become much more of a planner. There will be no last minute trips to the store because it is almost bedtime and we forgot to get more milk. And no running to get medicine for the kids when they get sick in the middle of the night. We have to make sure we always have things on hand.

The other day, I asked Brent if he thinks there will be anyone our age for us to become friends with. I know, I know...silly question...there are after all 3300 people...of course there are people our age.

But I do wonder if there is anyone our age with young children like ours. After all, even here in the metroplex, nearly everyone we know with children the same age as ours are nearly a decade younger than us. And big cities tend to have more of the older first time parent thing going on. Small towns...I guess we'll see soon enough. Can you tell I'm a little concerned about fitting in. Well, actually, not so much with fitting in as I am with making true connections.

And then, when I was already thinking along these lines, someone, who shall remain nameless so as to not be yelled at by his family ;) asked me if I am worried about having my own identity. Because the Grelle family has been in this small town for so long and they are well known there. I answered, no. We are a different age than the rest of the family and we will get to know people closer to our age. We will meet people at church. We will get to know people and will be known as ourselves. So no, I am not worried.

But then I started thinking...I've never lived in a small town before. And a niggling seed of doubt crept in. Thanks a lot nameless one ;) Is that really how it works? Will I be given the chance to be my own person? Or will I be only known as being part of a group?

Please don't get me wrong, I LOVE being part of this family, and I am proud to be known as one of them. But I also want people to get to know me and like me...or even to dislike me on my own merit rather than on the basis of who my family is. Does that make any sense at all? I am who I am...and that is how I want to be known. That will be possible, won't it?