After years of knowing I was going to move, and even after having packed up all my childhood memories and said my goodbyes, it hit me, really smacked me upside the head that my--no, my family's home is no longer Naperville. This sadness isn't because I myself will miss "Chicago" things, like Portillo's or Midwestern "A"s or Millennium Park, but the sadness comes in realizing that my family is being removed from the support it has known for the past 15+ years.
Take my brother, for instance. He's practically lived his whole life in Naperville, and he's gone through a lot with the friends he's made here. From winning 1st place in AirBand (dance competition) to competing in 293874 different sports to fighting through the ups and downs of our church together with the other HS kids, he's gone through enough to shape him into the mature guy he is today. His friends have pushed him athletically, broadened his comfort zones through dancing, encouraged him with their testimonies, and shared countless hours of "just being boys" through video games. Now that he's off to USC for college, he won't be seeing his friends during breaks since he'll be spending them in our new "home" in LA. He's also sacrificed and done a lot for our home church, but will he be able to see the fruit of his labor?
His friends made him this video slideshow as a formal goodbye, and church friends held a goodbye party for him. Old church friends whom we haven't seen in years came to say goodbye...
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/video/video.php?v=1040488649660&ref=share
The most heartwrenching of all, though, is this:
This is a picture taken of the church praying for my family a week before they left. My sister was telling me today about what happened, and she described how my whole family was crying. Also, if you look closely enough, you can see their emotion... I *rarely, rarely* ever my family them cry. It's actually really scary when I do, because it means that something huge is happening. I think my whole family doesn't like to show weakness (or emotion...)(I guess I lack that gene, cuz I cry all the time).
Crying is contagious to me usually when I see people cry, but man, just hearing about it today set me off, especially when I realized how hard it must be for my family to say goodbye to these people.
We've held numerous potlucks at our house, my parents planned almost every event this church has had in the past 15 years, my grandparents celebrated their 60th anniversary in the midst of these brothers and sisters, and my sister/I/my brother have grown up with these families our whole lives.
Not only are we being torn away from our church support, but my family is being torn apart as well. Growing up, my family and my cousin's family had always done things together since we lived so close to each other. Even when my sister and cousin went to college, they were still only a town away. But now, we are being scattered across the continent. My cousin Joe moved to Hawaii, my other cousin Steph is in New York with me, my sister is staying in Chicago, and my aunt and uncle will remain in Naperville. While my sister was in college, and even now as she is working, she came home to visit every weekend. My uncle's family lived about 15 minutes away from us and would come over to just hang out w/ the grandparents or share meals together. Memories of my brother and I taking piano lessons from my aunt, my sister coming home and sharing stories of her misbehaving students, my dad and uncle conversing about politics or business, my grandparents cooking up a feast to feed the families, ... these are now just memories.
Despite all of my sadness, I know that God will be faithful to my family in Diamond Bar, just as He was when we first moved to Naperville. My brother will make awesome friends at USC, my parents will continue to serve their hearts out at EFC-East Valley, my grandparents might feel a *tiny* bit out of place with people their age that can speak English fluently, but hopefully the great weather and awesome food will lessen the pain a little...
Man, it's been an incredible 15 years in Naperville.
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