I have the most wonderful dental hygienist who feels more like a family member. You could tell her anything without judgment, and she is such a beautiful human. In any event, at my cleaning last week she reminded me that I left a bit of a cliffhanger in last month’s Scrolls. We didn’t move to Spain (yet) though it’s high on my dream board for future Nixon moves. That was a guess that came through when I said, you’ll never guess where move number 10 took us…

It’s across the street (on the same street) from house number 8. Quite literally. Our new address is just one number off from what it used to be (before the last move that led us here). And how we got there is nothing short of our angels working together, or the universe conspiring with us, or however you look at this kind of life event that you pray so hard for, put in the work to get there, and it turns out even better than you imagined.

I almost labeled it as serendipitous. I suppose you still could, but I strongly believe other forces were at play here. ((And if you’re feeling a little lost, you can catch up quickly in this post))

There were a series of aha moments that we collectively knew our little neighborhood was where we were meant to (finally) plant some roots. I’ve always said that home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling. Because that fit our ethos and made so much sense to us as we moved different cities in New York, Chicago and Texas. We were a family who moved a lot, it was woven into our identity. Only we weren’t in the military, and didn’t have jobs that relocated us to and fro. We just loved houses, and experiences, and being together. But what if home is a place and a feeling?

I struggled so much when we sold the first Texas house. We were selling it for the reasons we usually do: the renovations were complete, there was a fantastic opportunity to sell it, we wanted a new adventure. It all made sense not only on paper, but more so with what our story had been for the last 17 years. Not to mention wanderlust got the best of me, and a chance to pack our family in the car and leave on a never-ending road trip sounded like Heaven (it really was 😍).

But what we’ve learned is that just because you’re a person who moves, doesn’t mean you always have to be. I used to be a person who was on television, now I’m a certified wellness counselor. We used to live for donut crawls, now we live for smoothies. We live by when you know better, you do better, and I think this is absolutely one of those times where we peeled back the layers and thought, does this really serve us anymore? Does this constant moving align with the goals we have as a family? And when we all got to a collective no, our next question was, where do we plant and grow and thrive? Various nudges led us back to our sweet little neighborhood. I deeply missed my pond walks with Gemma. Grey missed his friends. We missed the safety of being enveloped by neighbors who are all looking out for you and would gladly lend a hand when you need one. We missed people like Carla, our glowing hygienist. And the friendly faces at the pickle ball court. And that’s when we realized that home is a place and a feeling. The feelings of joy and well-being and love that we get from being here is such a GIFT. Here’s the best part of it:

I wake up earlier than the rest of the house each day and I take a few minutes to write out prayers and goals and hopes and dreams. One dark morning in February sitting in house #9, I wrote out a very detailed paragraph on how we would sell our current home and buy the next one – down to the dollar – even including tiny details like inspection items, days on market, and the exact location we wanted to be ((our old neighborhood)). I sent up a Hail Mary in the form of an email to our realtor (and friend and life advisor and one of the most lovely ladies we know) asking her if she knew of any homes coming on the market. She didn’t. But what she did do, was orchestrate this move with prayer. I should mention Debra lives there, too, and that’s how we became so close.

Debra reached out to a friend in the neighborhood who happened to own the home we now live in. This wonderful woman wasn’t planning on selling, but she promised she’d pray on it. That and about 999 things had to work out in order for this dream to come alive for us…and as you know, they did. It all aligned through hard work, persistence, and mostly prayer. One of the coolest parts? That paragraph I wrote back in February? Every sentence came to fruition. When they say write out your goals, read them often, work diligently for them and you can make it happen – 🤯.

Questions we get a lot: is it hard to live right across the street from your old house? Not at all. That house really wasn’t the best fit, but it makes us smile to see those blue doors! Do you feel like you missed out on moving to another state? Not right now. Especially in this season of life with Grey, it felt so important for him to form deeper friendships (us, too), and for all of us to start feeling some peace in that area of life instead of constantly worrying about where to go next. And if you have another question, please leave it in the comments! In the meantime if I can leave you with this – just because you’ve identified with an idea or a way of being for a long while, doesn’t mean you always need to. You can get out of the loop and shed that layer and find the you that fits even better. THANK YOU for reading this far, there were so many tiny nudges and whispers that got us here, but for the sake of not stealing your entire day to share this, I made it as concise as possible. I am so grateful for you! XO, Kaylea