It’s that time of year.  The time when Chris would normally be off somewhere with his new team and I would be getting the rest of the family ready to go.  Getting ready to go means researching schools (or buying homeschooling supplies), nagging Chris about making sure there are enough beds, pillows, blankets, etc for us when we get there. Making sure he has a car big enough for our family.  Either getting our dog, Jango ready to go or finding someone to watch her while we are gone.  Planning out clothes for everyone.. growing babies means taking extra sizes.  Buying new little coloring books, games, or toys and lots of fun snacks for the plane ride.  Making sure iPods and iPads were filled with favorite songs and movies.  Lots of trips to the store and countless checklists being completed.  Stress.

We aren’t doing any of that this year.  Our oldest just gave a book report at school and #3 just started preschool.  We are fully invested into the girls’ soccer seasons and not worried about going anywhere but to work, school, the grocery store, the soccer field, etc.

As I sit here at home I see so many of my fellow Basket Wives posting pics of their new homes for the season……….. and find myself missing it.  What?!

Being a wife of an international basketball player, going somewhere different every season was extremely difficult.  There are so many things I DO NOT miss:

-Questionable Water

-Interesting furniture

-Trusting Doctors you aren’t so sure about.

-One cramped bathroom for everyone

-Drying every single piece of laundry like this:

-Buying yet another IKEA highchair (but on the flip side being so grateful there is an IKEA nearby.

-Packing

-THESE!

-Goodbyes

-Tired kids in the airport

-That dreaded jet lag

And oh the stress.  So much stress.  Where do I buy groceries, what can I do to keep my kids entertained in this shoebox apartment, when is someone going to come visit us?! Drying sad teary eyes of kids who miss their home, learning pieces of a new language, and probably so much more….

BUT…..

I will miss the adventure.  The excitement.  The learning.  We were able to see so much of the world.  We took pictures of amazing things on a regular every day basis.

and so many many more.

-I will miss being able to teach my kids things simply by living where we did.  I’m sad that our babies won’t get all the amazing experiences, but am happy that the oldest 2 will have a lot of memories.

-I will miss all the people from around the world who doted on my kids.

-Watching Chris play.  It didn’t feel like I got to ‘watch’ much with all the kids in tow.  Game days were a bit stressful to me actually…. but I will miss watching Chris do what he has always loved doing.

 

 

 

 

It’s sad to admit how many days went by that I didn’t appreciate the amazingness of what we were doing.  I longed for ‘normalcy’.  I loved traveling but with such a large family of little kids it was so difficult.

Now we are ‘normal’.  And there is a part of me that misses being adventurous and amazing without trying.  I already feel the need to take a trip to get out of the rut of normalcy that we are in.  Funny how life is like that.  Guess I’ll have to try harder to create our own excitement and hopefully find a way to enjoy being ‘normal’ and be happy I don’t have a new city to get lost in.