Movers and Shakers or Movers and Stayers

According to sociologist, America is made up of movers. It makes sense when you look at our history. We are a young country filled with decedents of immigrants and pioneers. It is noted that the more educated you are the higher the chance you will be a mover. Education provides more job opportunities and usually the paycheck supports the move.

Is there an advantage to being a mover or is it better to be a stayer? I used to envy families who were stayers. They were the ones who had huge family gathering, you know the ones where everyone loves each other. My family were movers....every single one of them. After all I was only 5 weeks old when I traveled from one side of the world to the other....born to be moving. So began the odyssey of moving. My mothers family all immigrated. My father's family, although from the east coast were seeking "gold" out west. When I was little my father worked every job imaginable, military man, photographer, insurance sales man, prison guard, lawn maintenance and ultimately real estate. Real estate was his brass ring. I think because it felt right in the spirit of the pioneer. Once he locked onto that we moved even more than we had before. Yes, it was in the same town but I never lived more than 3 years in any one house growing up.

As an adult I continued the tradition and started moving. After I got married I moved twice before my first child was born 2 years later. The came the staying period. Wanting to provide the feeling of staying for my first born we lived on the same country road for 8 years. We were only 1 of 2 families who were not related. Our entire road was related and they were all stayers. I was fascinated. The cousins would run from house to house and my oldest because just another relative. What I learned was that stayers have a whole different challenge...stayers know way toooooo much about each others business. Stayers are fairly opinionated about each other....and there are rules and they can't be broken. If there is a fight amongst the stayers...well there is a problem Houston.

So after 8 years we picked up our household and headed north. Granted I went kicking and screaming because I wanted to be a STAYER!!!! But I ended up being a mover and in the short period of time in my new home town we moved 5 times in less than 5 years. Once settled and kids in school we wanted to create a home of stayers.

So what did I learn in this tale of being a mover or stayer. That moving gives you fresh air, freedom to be who you are, challenges, excitement and new friends but staying is good. Staying doesn't have to mean boredom, but moving and staying in a new place gives you a chance to create a new family, new connections and after time you may get really lucky and a cousin will move to town and you then get a piece of family from your past to be a part of your future.

They say that most people when asked about there home town, it is not the town they live in....for me where I live is my home town, my friends are here, my children went to school here, I work here and my cousins live here....yep this is home.