Featured Articles
RETURN to interview page (click here)

MOVING EVENT; WOMAN HELPS IN THE TRANSITION
Writer: John Leptich
Source: The Arizona Republic

The term mover and shaker aptly describes Susan Miller, who relocated 14 times in 21 years before settling in Scottsdale in 1986. She admits the early upheaval, due to her hotel-industry husband"s frequent transfers, shook her every time.

"Moving is my middle name," Miller said. "It"s devastating to be uprooted. It hits a woman emotionally and has a ripple effect on the family."

Miller has moved so many times that she trademarked the name "America"s Moving Coach." In 1995, she founded Just Moved!, a Scottsdale-based firm whose mission, according to Miller, is to connect women to Jesus Christ and their new communiities.

Miller, who teaches classes and has spoken nationwide and internationally on moving, in 1995 wrote "Moving On After Moving In," a book to help women cope with moving, Miller wrote her second book, "But Mom, I Don"t Want to Move!" in 2004.

Just Moved! will hold a conference 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at Scottsdale Bible Chapel, 7901 E. Shea Blvd., for women dealing with the changes and losses following a move, according to Miller.

Miller and her family traversed the South, including stops in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, before finally moving to Scottsdale. Having moved every three or four years early on, Miller said going from one side of Atlanta to the other was the easiest, but coming to the West was a real shaker.

"I went from grits to guacamole and magnolias to saguaros," said Miller, 62. "Leaving the South where I had been all my life was the most difficult move. After a while, because of what I went through and what I had learned, I thought there might be a need for what I learned in the moves. I knew there were other women in the same posiition and wanted to help them."

Miller said Just Moved!, through her books and work-books, teaches women who have relocated how to let go, start over and moved ahead. She estimates there are 44 million people moving annually around the nation. She said her firm works with about 8,000 women per month

"We tell women the basic principles about moving and help them with the emotional side of such a transition," Miller said.

"It"s hard to let go of what"s left behind and just move on. I learned that through the pain and heartache of all my moves. We wanted to take an organization based on biblical principles and faith, and teach women to realize God never moves; he"s always there with them throughout it. We want to show them what to do after the boxes are empty. Moving is our ministry"s call."

Miller said moving has a much more of an emotional effect on women., She wants women who get involved with Just Moved! to come away with the tools and encouragement to keep going emotionally with a sense of hope.

"Women feel in limbo (with a move)," she said. "They have been disconnected. It"s huge for a woman to be connected."

For cost, registration or other information on the conference, call (480)991-5268 or visit www.justmoved.org.

©Copyright 2006
Copyright material is used here as a resource for movers and should not be reprinted without first obtaining a Permission To Reprint from the publisher/author.