We’re moving this week. We bought a new house about 15 minutes away from our current house and are now in the process of transporting as much stuff as possible over this week. Saturday is the big move-in day, with a big rental truck, and big furniture, and big plans to be living in the new house full-time come Saturday evening.

Moving to new places comes with a lot of stress, soon to be followed by the stress of selling our current house.

It also comes with new opportunities, aside from adjusting to a living space that we believe and hope will enable us to build the family life we’ve talked about for years.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how my day-to-day life can change with our new house, and I’m trying to temper my own expectations but also remain open to those possibilities.

We will have a nice front porch and back patio to relax on, readily accessible from the house and also far enough from the noise of our road to feel somewhat private. I’d like to think we will spend many comfortable mornings, and afternoons, and evenings sitting and talking in our outdoor spaces with friends and family.

We will have both a grocery store and a gym (of a reliable franchise brand) less than ten minutes’ walk from my doorstep. Will I be able to reclaim a slice of the walkable suburban lifestyle I had grown so accustomed to during grad school? I sure hope so. I’m excited about the idea of walking to the store with my 4-year-old to pick up milk on a Wednesday night.

We will have a finished basement, soon-to-be-playroom, where our sons can have a space to play and yell and make messes that do not feel disruptive to the flow of our main living, dining, and kitchen areas.

We will have sidewalks in a quieter area removed from main roads and throughways. I hope I will feel comfortable letting our kids roam the neighborhood without fear of cars speeding by every three minutes.

We will have a backyard that is a relatively flat blank slate — just a cement patio and grass right now that, with patience, we can evolve into a vibrant, welcoming, and pleasant garden and play area.

I think we have a lot of hopes and dreams for our new house, and that’s what’s exciting about it. The opportunities it provides us affirm our decision to move. It will be fun to see these opportunities play out.

Steve D