In this installment, there’s more emotional processing, a few moving tips, lots of packing tape, a little fear, and lots of gratitude. Oh, and a train trip to Virginia.

Here we are six weeks later or so, and a cluttered and hectic time it has been! If I were one to use the word chaotic carelessly, I might use it here. I follow national and world news though, so it’s hard to get chaotic out of this mess, from which I can see my way out. Through?

The right buyer came along during the second showing weekend. Luckily, an early August closing works best for everyone so there’s no rush getting out. This is an especially good thing since we won’t have a home to go to until early-mid September, at the soonest. Pods, movers, and storage are scheduled. Boxes are being packed and stacked. Emotions still run high from time to time and it helps knowing that someone is really excited about making our home their own. There’s sort of a feeling of getting ready for a special guest, that part where you want things nice and you want them to be really comfortable and feel right at home.

There is a temptation, I’ve seen it with some sellers and am now experiencing it myself, to leave a lot of notes. Some, of course, are useful for ease of transition. Others are not. The notes I think about leaving pertain to discoveries I’ve made and things I enjoy and people I love. Things like the view from the bathtub, the neighbors’ gardens and the flower and vegetable sharing that goes on, pictures of all the kids on the block when they were little and updates on the amazing people they’ve become. You can see how this might not be helpful and I can see how the joy for me was in the discovery. I am letting go. Dangit, tears with those four words. All done, o.k., moving on…

Speaking of moving on, there is A LOT to that! Here are a few things I have found helpful:

·      The U-HAUL place is an excellent resource for boxes. All sizes and uses and handy packing tips. They’re reasonably priced and they have a buy back plan if you don’t use them (maybe even if you do).

·      At some point, there’s no longer time to sort through everything. Pack it now, sort it later. Time is going to start going exponentially faster, the closer you get to closing day. Relative to this point: Mark your boxes for priority unpacking. Forgive yourself if a few of those boxes make no sense at all.

·      PODS are great for loading stuff up to store if you’re not moving right away but, unless you really know what you’re doing, have pros pack it up. You want to maximize the space. Also, they’ll keep an extra smaller POD on reserve at no charge just in case you don’t have enough room at the last minute.

·      Cozy Home in Monona (and maybe other consignment/second-hand shops, as well), will come over and look at furniture and other items you want to sell. You pay $40 for the appointment and get it back if they buy anything. Your cut is less than if you go the consignment route; they’ll send a truck, give you cash, and you never have to think about it again. I’ll let you know how that goes; my appointment is next week.

4 Days Later

It’s Saturday evening after a full day of mostly packing. My goal for today was 10 boxes but 6 seemed liked plenty. Another good use of time was dusting and clearing the dining table and mantle because another month is entirely too long to just let everything go. Yes, 1 month. Today is July 2 and we will be out by August 2. It’s been great to have such a nice, long escrow (60 days) but it’s easy to put things off. And time, if you haven’t noticed, goes pretty quickly.

I started this post on the train from D.C. to Chicago, coming home from my mom’s last Tuesday. She had a surgery that was, thankfully, not nearly as difficult as anticipated. It was nice to be there with her even if she did not need all the care I anticipated lavishing on her. Instead, she was better than ever 2 days after her operation and wanting to go out and play. I, on the other hand, had a welcome rush of business and needed to work. It was nice to be there, working in her tidy house without the distraction of all that needs to be done here. It was also nice to get home and get back to the tasks at hand.

Things are coming along. Closets, cupboards and drawers cleared of things we can live without for a while (probably indefinitely), which turns out to be quite a lot of stuff. Empty bookshelves and built-ins. Maybe you do this when moving, too – I fantasize that I will never overstuff a drawer or closet again. That counters will stay clear. We’ll see. I am hopeful and doubtful. Jim has made amazing progress in the basement and shed out back. There’s still a long way to go and there’s also a last month to enjoy here.

I have typed and deleted about 5 different descriptions of our feelings for our neighbors. It just comes down to love. Every now and then I stop and think, “Wait, wait, what are we doing? This can’t be right!”. Then I remember that it is, in fact, exactly right. Life on life’s terms. And I go for a walk I love and remind myself that all these paths and the beauty that surrounds them will still be here and so will our friends. There will be new walks and the Sugar River to explore and local businesses to support. And small-town high school football games in walking distance. Go Wildcats! But there is not a scenario in which Jim and I are not talking, laughing, eating, walking and sharing life’s ups and downs with this beautiful band of humans we’ve been with for all these years.

We drove out there again yesterday. It’s starting to take shape. Well, our friends’ place is and ours will be soon. If theirs is done first, they’ve offered us their guest room. That might be fun since they stay with us for a week or so at least once a year. A sweet and lovely friend just bought a farm in the next town and that makes my heart happy. Jim is designing new bookshelves and sending me pictures of sofas and things that will fit with our new, more modern style. At 72 and 63, there is something to be said for shaking things up a bit – especially by choice. It’s not lost on us how lucky we are.

People move for a lot of different reasons. We’re joining the ranks of those whose transition is necessitated by a new stage of life. It’s so much fun to work with first-time home-buyers and families needing more room to grow. It’s equally satisfying, maybe more so, to be there for people whose lives have taken an unexpected and difficult turn, when they weren’t anticipating a move at all. Whatever the reasons, it’s so much more than just packing. And all of it counts and all of it deserves attention.