Creature of habit, on the move again

In the past two years, in three countries on three continents, I have lived in four different places, and on Saturday it will become five.  And I am not a big fan of change.  Years ago, at another time when the residences far outnumbered the years, I noticed something about myself when I move: I never want to leave the old house behind even when I am excited for the new one. 

I am a creature of habit, strong habits, and I fully move in and become at home wherever I live.  I establish my little routines.  So every time I move, something small inside me wonders if I'll be able to make the habits and routines fit in the new place.  When I move from somewhere big to somewhere small, will everything fit?  Of course it always does, I am just one person.  When I move from somewhere small to somewhere big, will my timing and routines still work if they are more 'spread out'?  Of course, they always do.  For as much as I hate the changes and as much as I have quite the habits and routines, I have learned that I am also quite adaptable.  Whether I am on Primera Junta or España, on Old Woodward or Bashian, at ICS or at Parkland, the new place soon becomes home and my routines make the adjustment. 

So it is with excitement, though also a twinge of sadness, that I am packing up my little studio this week and preparing to move to the new Parkland apartment.  I've really liked living in this apartment, more so than I thought I would.  I thought that having a studio would be weird to me, but I actually enjoy it.  I thought that being on campus would be horrible and I would feel like I never left work, but when I'm in my room I actually forget that I'm still on the school campus- I'm in my own world. 

By Saturday, I will buy furniture for the first time in my life (that $20 Salvation Army couch in college does not count)- I'm buying both a new couch and a new mattress for the new place.  I will purchase dishes for the first time, instead of enjoying lovely sets handed down through the family or using ones that belong to roommates.  I'm picking out silverware.  And thinking about paint colors.  It feels a bit strange, even though I am well old enough (older than most buying that stuff for the first time), but exciting too.  It might take a bit of time to settle in, but I know it will be home soon enough, as it has always become so in the past.