I had a friend ask me once if I ever looked back on the many moves in my life and wished that I had just stayed in one area. So I thought about that. I have moved 24 times in my life. Two of them were with my family as a child. The other 22 were all mine. (mine & family work moves)
Needless to say I felt like I was moving almost every 6 mos to a year. I actually got to a point I did not even unpack every box because I knew in my heart we would be on the move again.
Sometimes I am so envious of my family and friends who have stayed in the same area and I see how they have kept in touch with all the people we grew up with. How they have long term friendships and that those people are always there in their lives on an everyday basis.
But then I think that I have moved to so many places that I may never have known about. I had jobs some boring and some so very exciting. I have met so many people that I would never have known. I am still friends with them, yes we do not see each other as often and some of them have moved and are all around this country, and some live overseas. But our friendship is there we just contact each now by phone, e-mail or other sites i.e. facebook. (very much like our friendships on this site)
My late husband and I used to say that when we passed who would come to our funeral because between us we had moved so many times, we were alway strangers where ever we lived. Well when he passed, there were people lined up a block and half down the street, because of the many friends we had made over the years who came. And as I greeted the people I realized that yes my family and I were always strangers where ever we lived but we were blessed with many friends.
So now to the point:
So my answer to my friend was "Yes" I sometimes wish that I had stayed in the same place, lived in the same house, kept and nutured those friendships.
But my answer is really "No", I would not change the many moves, because I never would have met those beautiful people, I would never have experienced seeing different places on a day to day basis and through all this, learning to be more tolerant to the many changes we experience in our lives.
I consider that my life was blessed, I would not change anything.
