12 Things You Understand If You Move A Lot
Updated: Aug 3, 2020
1.) Being asked where you’re from is harder to answer than proving the existence of extraterrestrials. Do you just choose your favorite place? Do you say where you spent the most years? Or is where you were born? It takes you so long to process an answer to this question, you’re convinced people think you’re lying.
2.) You will inevitably adopt some of the local vernacular. The way people talk varies by city, so don’t make fun unless you know their zip code history. Missourians for example, say you-ins as opposed to the southern y’all, both egregiously inaccurate grammatically, but socially acceptable locally. And don’t get me started on the Soda vs Pop argument. Obviously it’s soda.
3.) Schools are in no way created equal. Starting a new school when everyone else has been there forever can be scary as the new kid. You also never knew if you would be at the top of the class or just an average nobody. The great part is you got to start over with a clean slate and didn’t have to be forever known as the girl who farted in Mrs. Smith’s 7th grade English class. (Not that I would know anything about that.)
4.) You don’t have that group of friends. The ones who have known you since childhood, who have always lived in the same town, see each other several times a week, and have a bond that can withstand anything. Occasionally you feel a slight loss over it until you remember all the freaking cool places you have been and lived. Plus you have friends all over the country. If you put pins in a map locating every person you know, it would be one hell of a crazy map.
5.) You learn to be less materialistic without really trying. When you move a lot, you often find yourself buying a futon mattress for a bed and using throwaway Craigslist furniture in the living room. Your apartment looks as scarily empty as your first college dorm room, but you’re in your 30’s, so you tell people you’re a dedicated minimalist. Ultimately ‘things’ seem lack the importance life experiences do, and frankly, you don’t want furniture you’re just going to move in a year anyway. If you even stay a year…
6.) Your favorite restaurant is on the other coast. You have a favorite restaurant in nearly every city you have lived, and your absolute favorite is a vegetarian Chinese place in Norcross, GA. Yet you’ve spent the last 10 years all over Oregon, California, and Arizona.
7.) You get restless if you stay in one place too long. Signing a lease or committing to a cable TV contract causes panic attacks. Thank heaven for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu!
8.) You have one closet full of all sizes of Rubbermaid containers that you now use instead of boxes when you move. You also have a couple dozen eco-friendly reusable grocery bags because they are great for moving books. Not too heavy, easy to carry handle, and you can fit quite a few books in them!
10.) Your address is almost never right on your ID. You’ve also stopped counting how many states you have now been licensed in.
11.) Buying custom address labels is a complete waste of money. Even better, you receive free return labels from some random advertiser, but they were forwarded to your new address (with the old address on them of course).
12.) Moving around a lot has opened your mind. This is one of the very best benefits to moving frequently. Meeting people from different places, learning different cultures, experiencing differences in lifestyles, all make you a more rounded and accepting human being. Loving and accepting each other is such a beautiful way to live.
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