Over the weekend, my husband, daughter and I made one final trip to Oxford to move out of our home there, and into our new house in Vicksburg.

It took two days to box up all our belongings and load them in the movers’ truck, a total of 19 hours’ work. Even though we hadn’t been living in our small townhome for two months, it was emotional to see our things boxed up and hauled out one by one. This was the house where my baby learned to crawl, where my husband and I celebrated her first Halloween, her first Easter.

Oxford, as a whole, was somewhere that was home to us for nearly eight years — until it wasn’t anymore.

As we walked by the truck, toddler cradled in my arms, I remarked to my husband, “Wow, that’s our whole life in boxes.”

“No,” he replied. “Our whole life is in your arms.”

And he was right. The material items don’t really matter as much as the bond the three of us share. That mindset provides a renewed purpose for our work here.

In planting roots in Vicksburg, we are eager to work to create a better future for our daughter and a better community where she can grow. Ours isn’t the only young family that sees value in the River City — more people are moving here each year, as jobs are created and resources become available.

Now is an exciting time to live in Vicksburg. With the city’s plan to beautify its waterfront, more development happening at the old outlet mall and at the mall on Pemberton and the upcoming addition of MCITy and an influx of tech positions available, it seems like we can only go up from here.

So, as we made the trip from Oxford one final time, we weren’t sad to be leaving. Instead, we are thrilled by the possibilities that lie before us. Vicksburg is a place brimming with potential, and I, for one, am so excited to be a part of the action.