It is a habit of our family's that soon after we move in, we plant flowers in our front yard someplace, maybe just a pot or two or maybe a small bed.  Thinking back on many other moves, most of which were in warm months, it seems this is a ritual of ours. It is a sure sign that we are home again and this place belongs to us.  Over the years we have developed several such moving routines that help us pick up our lives and set them down again someplace entirely new. 

About the time I was mulling all that over I read a wonderful essay from Homemaker's Mentor about this very thing which asks Is Your Home a Daylily or an Oak?  The oak stands for years in one spot, rooted, solid, firm.  Daylilies grow and spread and then are often transplanted to new spots to once again bloom and brighten a space.  The trick to any transplanting project is to minimize trauma to the root system. Using this analogy the author offers some really helpful tips for smooth transitions.  

I particularly love her reflections about the stages of a new home.  Year one feelings, year two, and year three. They are each different from each other but predictably similar every time.  A dear friend of mine, a master gardener, used to say of her perennials, "First year they sleep, second they creep, third they leap."  This is very like our own relocation experiences.  That first year is spent figuring out the new place, finding doctors and sports teams and favorite shopping spots.  The second year we spread our wings more and begin to have some familiarity with local events. We recognize faces when we are out and no longer need our GPS for every outing.  That third year we really have hit our stride and begin to branch out comfortably in our new community.  We feel settled.  Home.  And reality is, this is usually when it is time for us to prepare to do it all over again so it's vital that we develop ways to do it as painlessly as possible.

As suggested, we have been working diligently to set up kitchen, living areas, and bedrooms so we can get everyone settled into familiar patterns sooner vs later.  We still have work to do, however our days are already beginning to look like our May days always have. We cook, we study, we take walks, we plant flowers, and then yes, we work on the house. 

Things are still very new here.  We are still getting to know our way around this house, figuring out the best places for things and then remembering where those are. A home is made through a series of little steps like this one.   Day by day we become better friends with this place and wake up a bit more comfortable than the morning before.  Everyday there is a little something more tying us here – flowers to water, a life to cultivate.