Moving to Missouri Anniversary

We moved to Missouri in June of 2022, so this is our third anniversary of being in the state and our house. I’m thinking about how much I have settled in.

There are boxes that were not unpacked in the first 6 months after we moved that are still unpacked. They are obviously things we shouldn’t have moved from Maryland. It’s not a lot but I am now thinking more seriously about how to convince my husband that we can get rid of them!

The yard is trending toward more native vegetation and less grass. It is slow going but I enjoy the process. It seems like the changes are beginning to snowball in terms of more birds visiting out yard in recent months. ‘Leaving the leaves,’ ‘no mow’ areas, and no fertilizers/herbicides/insecticides in combination is better than each one alone! I let Virginia creeper become the ground cover in my front flowerbeds, and they look very lush; the vines extend toward the front porch and have covered a bit of the steps up to our front porch making the entry look inviting rather than sterile concrete/brick.

Over the past year I have taken classes at the local university – something I hadn’t done in Maryland – and become a Missouri Master Naturalist so that I could do the type of volunteering that I did in Maryland. I am on track to volunteer at about the same level as pre-Covid this year. I am not as confident yet that I know as much about Missouri as I did Maryland – but I know enough to be comfortable with the naturalist activities I am choosing.

I’ve seen quite a bit more of the state with either my husband or daughter over the past year as well but am realizing there is a lot more to see. It easier to learn the physical aspects of the state than the social nuances, but maybe that was true occasionally in Maryland too. Over the course of this past year, the classes and volunteer gigs have provided opportunities for me to interact with more people…and that’s a good thing.

Our motivation for moving to Missouri was to be closer to where our daughter lives…and it is a nice bonus that we like our house and Missouri too!