To Move or Not to Move

Moving house is something we all think about as we get older: to be closer to family; for easier access to amenities like doctor, dentist and shops; to downsize. I would love to see more of my daughter and grandsons, but love where we live, the familiarity of our small village, the cottage we have lived in for twenty three years that we are finally getting into shape and, of course, our lovely garden.

Being torn between two places a couple of hundred miles apart, and somewhat different in scenery, isn’t easy. But at least I know I can get myself moving, board a couple of trains, and be there in a matter of hours. For now, I’m all for reading a book on our newly-completed patio, watching the seasons change, listening to the birds, and communing with the trees.

in dappled sunlight
bees hum among dahlias
a garden reborn

Kim M. Russell, 31st July 2023

Today is Haibun Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub with our host Frank, who wants us to address a phenomenon many of us have experienced: moving.

He says that many reasons exist to uproot ourselves from the place we call home and find another, and that moving, itself, is a stressful act. He explains that moving is on his mind, these days, after selling his home of nineteen years to move to a rented apartment.

Frank asks us to write haibun that allude to moving, in any way we conceive of it.

30 thoughts on “To Move or Not to Move”

      1. I don’t know how doctors are shared around the country in UK, if it’s the same problem we have. Doctors want to work where they make most money easiest. None of them want city jobs (except Paris and Nice) all of them want the expensive resort towns especially with rich old people, and absolutely none of them will work in the countryside. The government are talking about forcing them to go where they’re sent for their first three years. They don’t like it.

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      3. If the doctors went on strike here, there’s be revolution. People are getting sick of them forever asking for more money when they already earn eight times the average salary.

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      5. Our teachers are badly paid and they’re often on strike. I’m convinced it’s because it’s such a feminised profession, like the judiciary. Men wouldn’t stand for such low pay. University professors (far more men) get paid very handsomely.

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  5. Loving your haibun and your new patio! I hate moving! Would I like to be closer to family? Yes please! But they’re living their own lives and if I can fly to visit them, then that is fine. I know what you’re saying about Doctors. We certainly have a lack of them in NZ.

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  9. I enjoyed your haibun, Kim … I have the same logistic issues to deal with. Family spread out around the US of A. We are having a reunion in September, in St. Louis, MO … the area I grew up in. Where family still lives. Cheers.

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