I wouldn't CHANGE my life for any other life

There is a word in the English language that I know very well – the word is CHANGE. In two weeks, my families’ lives change once again and moving boxes are scattered throughout our house. Boxes full of memories, full of our belongings – waiting to be packed up, loaded on the truck, and eventually moved to a new home. Soon our address will indicate the seventh state we have lived in. New neighbors will surround us and our children will walk through the doors of new schools hoping to find friendly faces and good experiences.

Since I know the word CHANGE very well, I realize I don’t always know what to expect, but I know what I will eventually find. Yes, there will be challenges brought on by moving. Yes, I will be required to adapt – our children sometimes have to redefine themselves when they move. Yes, at times I will feel the loneliness of a new environment. Yes, no new place can ever be the same as the one left behind. 

This is what CHANGE has taught me – though a new place may not be the same as the previous place, it is in its own right our new home. My attitude is the determining factor to quality adaptation. Don’t feel pity for me that familiarity is a rarity because this is my burden to carry, and because I know the burden of moving all to well, I have become good at all moving requires.

By nature, I am a quiet and reserved person. By my environment, I have become more than I am. I have learned to adapt, to take life as it comes, to face challenges directly, to seek solutions, to seek God’s help, to reach out to others, to immediately jump into serving in new places.

Don’t get me wrong – there are times I feel overwhelmed, there are times when I wish CHANGE wasn't so constant, there are times when I have had to change plan after plan that I wanted to cry out – I am tired –where is the simple life?! There are times when I have ached watching my children struggle to adapt. I marvel when I hear others tell how they live as adults in the same area they grew up as a child. I can’t fathom what that would be like. My life is different than others, my children can’t simply state with one or two words where they identify their childhood home. We don’t simply have one home to call home.

I have called many homes HOME. I have incredible stories to tell. I have friends we have made in our many adventures. I have had to say goodbye many times only to turn around and say hello to a new adventure. I have experienced this so many times that fear of unfamiliarity has diminished. I have seen God’s guiding hand assist us. I have seen new places become favorite places. I have struggled through trials, and witnessed beautiful things happen and I have had multiple prayers answered.

I have learned through CHANGE that fear turns to faith, the unknown becomes the familiar, and my children’s unhappiness lessens as they come to love a new place. CHANGE is difficult, CHANGE is challenging, CHANGE shows us God’s guiding hand, and CHANGE becomes an incredible blessing, a redefining life, and a new adventure. I wouldn’t CHANGE my life for any other life.

Why I am a Mormon