I'm sitting in my house surrounded by miscellaneous toys, shoes, suitcases, and paper bags finishing up the process so fondly known as 'packing'. Our dining room is void of a table, literally purchased from underneath us as we cleaned off our 'last supper'. The walls are strangely bare, and there is a hollow echo that resounds in the house whenever there is a loud noise - at this point in our family either a laugh or a cry.
The good byes are in full swing - people I never imagined would miss us are incredibly sad, and people I thought would be terribly sad apparently don't mind. Good byes and leaving are terrible. I'm a professional 'leaver' - having done it over the course of my life more times than my potty training son christens a 'bathroom' I had no idea we had, in a day. No matter how you slice it, good byes and moving are terrible. They are either terrible because you're leaving somewhere that IS terrible because it is terrible, or you feel terrible leaving a place that is wonderful.
Despite the awfulness of good byes and leaving, there have been multiple funny, sweet, and/or enjoyable moments to appreciate in this particular move (provided I can reduce my stress level enough to notice them):
*Kai has started to say good bye to anything and everything, at times even bringing me a toy, telling it good bye then giving it to me and walking away - resigning himself to a simpler and more clutter free life.
* I've thrown away the same almost empty bottle of shampoo 3 times, and someone keeps taking it out of the trash and putting it back in the tub. I'm not sure if it's Chris thinking Kai threw it away on accident, or Kai thinking I threw it away because I'm crazy. Either way, I gave up...the empty bottle can stay in the tub.
* My return of an item to Babies R Us (a store I hate) was over 90 days by 1 day. Subsequently, and very unfortunately, I was given store credit to a store I hate & that is not located anywhere near where I'm moving. Hmmm....who needs a $45.23 gift card for Christmas...?
* I just sold over $400 worth of items to a woman for $69.50...she literally emptied her wallet, though I'm convinced she had a couple hundreds hidden in a non-disclosed location.
* My landlords father informed me he was former CIA - three days later he arrived at our house unannounced & began measuring all of the windows, where I observed his arrival to our house from my prime location breastfeeding on the couch.
* A man asked me to grill naked for him if he was going to purchase the grill we had posted on Craigslist - I sold the grill. To someone else.
* I went to the bank to close my safety deposit box at the bank, a task Chris had unsuccessfully attempted. When I went to make sure the box was empty, it was already open despite the fact I still had the keys. I won't be opening a safety deposit box again any time soon.
There are dozen more moments that have been worth laughing at, enjoying, or noticing. Despite the difficulties of moving (ie repacking all 10 bags to try and find a tiny bit more space for those last few horribly important items), I can say I am ready to embark on this new adventure.
Perhaps I'm so ready to embark because we've been 'barking' for so long - we've really been looking towards this move since January and it's only now finalizing. I'm indescribably excited to set up our new home, and to know it's a place I can settle in. I'm thrilled to have a pretty good idea of what the next 2 years will hold - I haven't had that since college, maybe before. Every year has held significant changes since my senior year of highschool - graduating, starting college, meeting my husband, getting engaged to my husband, marrying my husband, graduating again, starting a real job, husband starting grad school, having a baby, having another baby, and now this...it will be nice to have 2 years with fewer changes and only 1 big move...the one we're doing now.
I'll post a couple pictures tomorrow, both a 'this moment' and some miscellaneous ones from the week and the moving process...more to come next when we're in transition before we actually depart on November 1st.
For now, the 4lbs ($6) of zucchini I bought to use the $1 coupon is calling my name - asking to be given one last shot at preservation via freezing, acting as ice in a cooler for the next 2 days, and then being transformed into the highest calling a zucchini can have - zucchini bread. (I'll put the recipe for it up here sometime).
To all of you who are currently not moving - enjoy your quiet moments and dining room tables. I'm living vicariously through you.
The good byes are in full swing - people I never imagined would miss us are incredibly sad, and people I thought would be terribly sad apparently don't mind. Good byes and leaving are terrible. I'm a professional 'leaver' - having done it over the course of my life more times than my potty training son christens a 'bathroom' I had no idea we had, in a day. No matter how you slice it, good byes and moving are terrible. They are either terrible because you're leaving somewhere that IS terrible because it is terrible, or you feel terrible leaving a place that is wonderful.
Despite the awfulness of good byes and leaving, there have been multiple funny, sweet, and/or enjoyable moments to appreciate in this particular move (provided I can reduce my stress level enough to notice them):
*Kai has started to say good bye to anything and everything, at times even bringing me a toy, telling it good bye then giving it to me and walking away - resigning himself to a simpler and more clutter free life.
* I've thrown away the same almost empty bottle of shampoo 3 times, and someone keeps taking it out of the trash and putting it back in the tub. I'm not sure if it's Chris thinking Kai threw it away on accident, or Kai thinking I threw it away because I'm crazy. Either way, I gave up...the empty bottle can stay in the tub.
* My return of an item to Babies R Us (a store I hate) was over 90 days by 1 day. Subsequently, and very unfortunately, I was given store credit to a store I hate & that is not located anywhere near where I'm moving. Hmmm....who needs a $45.23 gift card for Christmas...?
* I just sold over $400 worth of items to a woman for $69.50...she literally emptied her wallet, though I'm convinced she had a couple hundreds hidden in a non-disclosed location.
* My landlords father informed me he was former CIA - three days later he arrived at our house unannounced & began measuring all of the windows, where I observed his arrival to our house from my prime location breastfeeding on the couch.
* A man asked me to grill naked for him if he was going to purchase the grill we had posted on Craigslist - I sold the grill. To someone else.
* I went to the bank to close my safety deposit box at the bank, a task Chris had unsuccessfully attempted. When I went to make sure the box was empty, it was already open despite the fact I still had the keys. I won't be opening a safety deposit box again any time soon.
There are dozen more moments that have been worth laughing at, enjoying, or noticing. Despite the difficulties of moving (ie repacking all 10 bags to try and find a tiny bit more space for those last few horribly important items), I can say I am ready to embark on this new adventure.
Perhaps I'm so ready to embark because we've been 'barking' for so long - we've really been looking towards this move since January and it's only now finalizing. I'm indescribably excited to set up our new home, and to know it's a place I can settle in. I'm thrilled to have a pretty good idea of what the next 2 years will hold - I haven't had that since college, maybe before. Every year has held significant changes since my senior year of highschool - graduating, starting college, meeting my husband, getting engaged to my husband, marrying my husband, graduating again, starting a real job, husband starting grad school, having a baby, having another baby, and now this...it will be nice to have 2 years with fewer changes and only 1 big move...the one we're doing now.
I'll post a couple pictures tomorrow, both a 'this moment' and some miscellaneous ones from the week and the moving process...more to come next when we're in transition before we actually depart on November 1st.
For now, the 4lbs ($6) of zucchini I bought to use the $1 coupon is calling my name - asking to be given one last shot at preservation via freezing, acting as ice in a cooler for the next 2 days, and then being transformed into the highest calling a zucchini can have - zucchini bread. (I'll put the recipe for it up here sometime).
To all of you who are currently not moving - enjoy your quiet moments and dining room tables. I'm living vicariously through you.
Moving is NO fun, but I am glad that you can have a sense of humor about all of those entertaining things going on in the meantime. :) I love the story of Kai saying goodbye to everything. So cute!
ReplyDeleteSarah you pretty much make me crack up the entire time I read your posts. I love you
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