How things have changed

This weekend marks the 3 month mark that we have been living in our home. Now that we are settled in a bit more, I am realizing how different this is from the college/dorm life that was our world for the first 6 years of our marriage. Here are the differences that have really stood out to me:

1. No more constant interruptions!

We not only lived in the dorm but T also was responsible for the building and people in it. That meant, anytime there was an overflowing toilet or a serious argument among room-mates, or even something more serious than that, it fell to my husband to resolve it. It wouldn't matter if he worked all day (and he did!), he would still have to be "on" when he came home from work b/c with nearly 300 students under his care, there was almost always something going on that needed his attention. Often, he would work a full day, come home for dinner, then have to go out for meetings and I wouldn't see him the rest of the night. AND there were the fire drills...I will never forget the more memorable one where the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night (someone had burned popcorn!), I had to get Kira out of bed, wrap her in a blanket and wait outside with the rest of the students while they figured out what the problem was. Kira was about 4 months old and it was the dead of winter. That was interesting!

But...I wasn't lonely without him! God provided people for me to pass the time with, I had a wonderful neighbor across from our "house" that worked with T but lived in the dorm and we used to hang out a lot. There was also a family that we were really close with that we used to get together for dinners on a regular basis. And of course, if I ever wanted to look for something to do, I had merely to walk outside my door into the lounge and there would invariably be something going on.

2. Privacy!

This second note kind of goes along with the first. This type of job that T had for 6 years does not allow for much privacy. I remember the first year we lived in the dorm, T was tickling me one night in the bedroom and I was laughing really hard...all of a sudden we both heard on the other side of the wall, clear as day a voice say, "I can hear you!" Living in a dorm is similar to living in an apartment complex in that there are people on either side of you but in our case, these walls were VERY thin and we always had to be quiet as not to disturb our neighbors...

3. Peace and Quiet!

I have to say, I am especially enjoying this one. 6 years of listening to one commotion after another, be it some guys having a wrestling match outside our door, an impromtu praise and worship time in the lounge, the constant clicking of the main door unlocking (this drove me crazy!), a talent night or concert in the lounge, there was always something going on and we could never get away from it.

This is not to say we didn't enjoy it while we were experiencing all these things...but God places us in circumstances for a season and we enjoyed it while it lasted b/c that was our normal and we had never known different. Now we are in another season of life and we are discovering what it is like to have a home with so much quiet, hardly any interruptions and privacy!