Change Is A-Comin’

Change. Who knew that one word could evoke so many emotions. For some, it’s fear. For others, excitement. Maybe even a little of both. Some people hate change. They hate the disruption from the norm. Some people embrace change. They move from one thing to the next and leave the past in the dust to pursue their next endeavor.

No matter our feelings toward change, we all have one thing in common: our life is full of it. Some change we can control and some we can’t. There’s good change and there’s bad change, but as we’re all painfully aware, our lives are constantly changing in some way or another.

My life changed when I left my home for college in a new state. My life changed when I joined my sorority. My life changed when I met my husband in my college dorm. My life changed when I graduated and got my first job in a new city. When I lost my grandpa. Then when I lost my dad. It changed when we moved to Columbia. It changed when we got married. And now, life is changing once again.

Andrew and I will be moving to St. Louis next month! Now, you might be thinking: “wow, a whole 2 hours away! Why is that such a big deal?!” For anyone who knows us, this IS a big deal. But, before I get into why, I think our current city deserves a tribute.

Columbia

Columbia, Missouri. CoMo. This city stole my heart in 2010 when I visited the University of Missouri during my junior year of high school. So much so that I didn’t want to look at any other college. I spent 4 years as an undergrad here. I met the love of my life, as well as some of the most amazing friends I could ever ask for here. Columbia showed me what it meant to be independent and I’ll always be grateful for that.

We moved from St. Louis to Columbia in 2016. For those who don’t know, I was devastated. When Andrew came home and told me where he was being transferred for work, I bawled the entire night. I didn’t want to go back to a college town. I didn’t want to leave my friends and my job in St. Louis. I didn’t want life to CHANGE. But, change it did.

My life changed for the better when I moved to Columbia. First, I found an amazing job. A place filled with inspirational leaders and supportive coworkers that have helped me grow into the person I am today. They inspire me to pursue my passions, keep me in check and encourage me to grow. With growth comes change. And without change, I never would have recognized my passion for leadership. I never would have pushed myself to lead others or to expand my marketing knowledge or make myself a better communicator. To my Caledonians: thank you for welcoming me into this city with open arms. I’m forever grateful and excited to stay on with the team as I venture into the work-from-home life.

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My relationship changed for the better when I moved to Columbia. Without many friends still in town, Andrew and I relied on each other constantly. In the past 3 years, we have spent SO much time together. We’ve spent hours in the car, driving back and forth from Columbia to St. Louis or Columbia to Tulsa. We’ve talked about everything under the sun, but still never run out of things to say. He’s always been my best friend. Since we were 19, in fact. But, I can confidently say that spending the last 3 years together in Columbia has made us so much closer.

Photo by Sharon Guillotte Photography

 

For someone who was so afraid of change just a few short years ago, I learned to embrace it during my time in Columbia.

St. Louis

So, you asked “wow, a whole 2 hours away! Why is that such a big deal?!” Here’s the thing. For us, St. Louis has represented so much over the past few years. It represented hope, family, stability, friendship and adventure. We always knew we wanted to come back to St. Louis eventually. Deep down, we knew that this was where we would plant our roots.

When we thought about St. Louis, we thought about the future. OUR future. We thought about our future home, our future children, our future dog (or dogs, ya know). St. Louis puts us closer to our loved ones, as well as puts us in the middle of the United States – giving us easier access to all the traveling we have planned throughout our lives.

Plus, St. Louis offers us a new beginning. It reunites us with family and friends – in a bigger way than initially anticipated. Yes, Andrew’s family is already there. But, soon mine will be too! My mom plans on joining us out in St. Louis in the next year or two, and I’m hoping my brother won’t be far behind her.

The thought of them moving to be with us makes my heart so happy. I haven’t lived in the same state as my family since 2011 when I graduated from high school, and I cannot wait to break that streak! Family has always been so important to us, but even more so since my dad passed away. There are so many parts of our lives that he’s missing right now and I hate that it feels like my mom and brother are missing out too. I can’t wait for the day that I never have to say another long goodbye to them again. That’s some GREAT change if you ask me.

We’re Buying a House!

One of the biggest changes besides moving to the other side of the state is that we are in the process of buying a home!

This process has been a great source of both joy and stress in our lives. I think people have this idea in their heads about the home buying process, which gets completely shattered once you actually start looking at houses. It’s not only complicated, but also time consuming – especially when you live 2 hours away. During this process, we’ve had to change our thinking in regards to finding our “dream home.” Why? Because no one gets their dream home as a first-time home buyer without a few flaws. But, we quickly found a house we loved early in the process and made an offer.

We had to embrace even more change when the house we had put an offer in for had a horrible inspection. We had just enough time with that house to start dreaming about where we were going to put our furniture and what colors we wanted to paint the walls when we were snapped back into reality during the first 15 minutes of our inspection. Unfortunately, change was inevitable. Andrew and I were heartbroken when we saw the laundry list of foundation, plumbing and termite issues that plagued this house. There was nothing else for us to do besides let the house go and start the process all over again.

But, you know what? Change led us to something better. Change led us to a house that was filled with so much love already. A house that will give us the opportunity to grow. It’s easy for us to picture our kids crawling around on the living room floor or the two of us curling up on the couch with the kitties on a quiet Sunday morning. Change led us here and we’re so grateful it did.

Photo via Zillow listing, taken by Triple R Photography

Granted, we’re not completely through the process. There are things that could come up in the next couple of weeks to make us face change again, but we are much more hopeful with this one! So hopeful, in fact, that I included a picture of this cute 1966 ranch that will HOPEFULLY be our future home.

Change Is An Adventure

In my 20s, I have learned to see change as an opportunity – an adventure, in fact. Good change is exciting, but even bad change makes you grow. Change is part of everyone’s story. But, it’s up to you on how you command the words it writes on each page.

Photo by Sharon Guillotte Photography

There’s a lot of change happening in the Donahue household right now, and even more to come. But we’re treating it like one of our adventures… we’re just not packing as lightly this time. 😉

We can’t wait to meet you in St. Louis. Onto the next adventure.

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