Front Porch Stories: Changes are ahead

By KATHY BOHANNON, Special to The Weekly

I’d like to think that at my age and place in life, there aren’t many roads I haven’t traveled, not many life moments I haven’t experienced. 

Yet, here we go again. 

I’m excited for this next adventure, yet it is bittersweet. We are moving to Statesboro to be closer to our son and his family. Like all kiddos, our Statesboro grandlittles are growing like weeds and we have missed so much by being nearly four hours away from them. 

But there are two grandlittles here. Two that we have been blessed to be very close to for the past six years. 

And there are friends. Friends here that are like family, lifelong friends. These are friends that I am having a very difficult time leaving. 

But there are friends in and near Statesboro that are also lifelong. Friends that became family when we lived in Savannah for twenty years. 

Twenty years in Moreland, twenty more years in Savannah and the last six here in Newnan. 

My heart is torn but also rejoicing. I’m broken hearted but also so happy I can barely sleep. The stress of moving is legit, y’all. I work from home and don’t have time to pack, but I’m packing. I need sleep but I’m awake at night. 

I know that everything will be fine, and like a flipped light switch, the ending of all this stress will be swift, as swift as it started. 

The Statesboro Littles will be frequent, hopefully daily, visitors, just four houses away in a quiet neighborhood. I can just see the bicycles laying all over the yard, board games going full blast, crafting all sorts of things including those last-minute school projects. But I know I will hardly be able to wait to see our grandgirls visit. 

It’s bittersweet. 

But nothing can surpass the stress when we moved to Newnan. Our grandlittle Wren was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 16 months. In a flurry of panic, we moved from our home in Savannah to our RV in a campground about an hour from Savannah. My husband had another year before retirement, and I hit the road every couple of weeks for over a year to spend a week at CHOA with our daughter and Wren. 

In time, Wren was pronounced in remission. By then my husband had retired and we had renovated an adorable home here in Newnan. We were blessed to be here throughout Wren’s treatments. 

The plan is that some of my friends here will come to visit and also get to see Savannah. The plan is also that the grandlittles here will come every school break and for several weeks in the summer. Of course, I’ll get to see my Savannah friends often, just like in the old days. Those things alone give me strength to get up and pack yet another box. 

But I know, just as in the desperate move that brought us here, God is all over this. My sweet husband knows my stress is pretty bad right now and as I was compiling this column, he came in and shared Philippians 4:6-7 with me. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I’m gonna take a deep breath, prepare for the many goodbyes that are on the horizon, and get ready for this next adventure. I’m following God’s lead.

Kathy Bohannon is a writer and currently lives in Newnan.