Two Suitcases and a Backpack

When I was 18 I moved from a small town outside of Vancouver, Canada to Lynchburg, Virginia to go to Liberty University. I was recruited to play on their NCAA Div.1 Field Hockey team and was super excited, but I also did not know a single person.

Often kids pack up their car and maybe even their parent’s and drive to their new school and get everything moved in. But I was moving 2,900 miles away and could only pack up two suitcases and my backpack. This was also a tricky task because I grew up with two sisters and mom that were around the same size, so we shared a lot of our clothes. My wardrobe was going from 4 closets to 1 and some of my favorite things to wear, technically weren’t mine so I couldn’t bring them along… even though I tried! But my sister went through all my stuff to make sure I wasn’t taking anything she would want. She was just as sneaky because she hid some stuff on me at her friend’s house, so I wasn’t going to be able to find it and take it with me.

I was also flying out there by myself, so I had to be able to carry/roll everything on my own. That’s because the day after I got there is when camp and preseason started, so there wasn’t really a point for my parents to come and hang out when I would be busy around the clock.

Instead, an upperclassman picked me up from the airport and let me sleep at her place before I moved into the dorms the next day. It was funny being able to bring everything into my new dorm room in one trip unlike the rest of the freshmen who had an entire minivan packed to the brim.

My family visited a few weeks later and we went shopping to get everything else I needed to survive, but my clothes were definitely limited. Although as my husband can attest to, I wore the same outfit everyday anyways, so it didn’t really matter. It definitely made me appreciate the minimalist lifestyle and compared to a lot of people I know, my closet is more bare.

My last few semesters at school I started leaving more stuff at home after breaks. Slowly I dwindled my way down to those two suitcases and a backpack to get me back to Vancouver. Little did I know I would be moving right back to Virginia 6 months later.

So I ended up making the same move when I got married since we originally were going to move back to the states. And this time I would be moving out of my parents place for good so if I wasn’t taking it with me then either my sisters would keep the stuff, or it was getting donated. Let’s just say I repeat a lot of outfits.