I've been wanting to record some thoughts about our move and how we are doing, but I just don't seem to know where to start. Lots of emotions at play here at the Ray home. There have been moments when I give in to the self-pity and loneliness and I want to just sleep (depressed much?). Most of the time, though, I feel like we are doing fine and I just need to allow for more time for us to adjust and meet more friends.
We've known this move was coming ever since we moved to Oxnard. Jason is in the military. That's what we do......move. We weren't sure where exactly we would go until about 6 months ago, but we knew that Jason was going to be going to graduate school for a year. Arizona State University has a great program that Jason is excited about and we had heard great things about it, so we decided on Phoenix, AZ.
So, we moved in on July 15. Phoenix in July. Yikes. When we came out to look for a home to rent, I will admit there were tears. Many tears, as I thought of the beautiful beach weather we would be leaving behind to move to, what seemed like, Hell on earth. SOOOO HOT. My kids cried as we got in and out of the car to look at different rentals. After looking at over 15 homes, we finally found one that we could see ourselves living in. Even if most of the interior walls are orange, we welcomed the color after living with all white walls for the last few years.
It has a pool! This amenity has saved us in the heat. It has also been a real morale booster with Graham and Lucy. Any time they started feeling upset about the move or frustrated with the heat, we'd just suit up and go for a swim and the sadness was forgotten....for a while. We really do enjoy it and Jason and I are grateful that we held out for a home that had a pool.
The Saturday that we moved in was eventful. Jason and Lucy rode in the moving truck, while the boys and I traveled in our mini-van. About 20 minutes into the drive, Jason called my cell phone and told me that the air conditioning in the truck wasn't working. So, the two of them drove seven hours to the desert in July. When we got here, the air conditioning in our house wasn't working. We were blessed to have five men from our new ward meet us here to help us unload, but I felt both embarrassed and angry as I watched them all sweat like crazy at the hottest part of the day as they moved in our furniture. We ended up staying in a hotel for those first two nights until it was fixed.
Did I mention that it's hot? Yes, we're adapting.....slowly, very slowly. My patience is already easily zapped away, but add 112 degree temperatures while I'm loading up a car or trying to find something in the garage and you better not stand too close. We have 2:00 church (yep...it's awful) and when we come out at 5:00 and pile into our mini-van, it isn't pretty. I may or may not have cursed at Jason when he mentioned that he changed the format on my cell phone. I may or may not have screamed on more than one occasion, "HOW DO PEOPLE LIVE HERE!" I'm not proud.
Benny has his own way of dealing with the extreme temps. Every time we walk out of the gym or the store, we take a few steps out and he just turns around and starts walking back into the building. He doesn't usually say anything. I've gotten pretty close to the car and realized he wasn't with me (I know, I know, Mother of the Year) and I turn around and he's standing inside the store watching us walk or sitting down in the air conditioned haven.
My favorite part of the heat is when my children find it necessary to state the obvious, over and over again. "It's soooo hot!" or "It's just too hot!" or my personal favorite, courtesy of Graham, "I hate the desert!" We must be getting a little more acclimated, though, because these complaints are fewer and farther between and I haven't karate chopped any of my children in a while.
More thoughts later. Gotta go drink some water.
