Moving Day

I’m back. No, I didn’t get sucked into this unending hole of moving. At least I think that’s the light beyond the pile of boxes.

The house has been an experience that I wouldn’t want to repeat too many times in my life time. Like none. I have said that the next time I move, I will sell all my belongings and buy new things just so I don’t have to pack and move everything again.

I have nearly transformed every room in the house into how I envisioned it though. This involved plenty cans of paint and several small home improvement projects. When I announced that I needed help painting though, I learned that people have many things to say that all lead to them not liking to paint. Everyone stayed away. Everyone did show up to help move my belongings though. (I think if they would have known exactly how much I own, they would have volunteered to paint instead.) Much was said moving day about my apparent fondness for shopping. I don’t hear complaints when I pass things onto them though. At the end of the day, every box was moved into my house, but it didn’t appear as if there would be room for us to actually live with our things. I may like to shop, but I can also organize. Everything will always find a place… eventually.

The first day/night I spent in the new place, I decided to do something that I’ve never done in my life… cut grass. It was a matter-of-fact decision. It needed to be cut, and I’m the only adult living in the house. So I did it. No big deal. Well, apparently it is hard work and you should actually check on the amount of gasoline before you run out in the middle of the yard, but hey, no big deal. The next day I was sick…. my sinuses. Coincidence? Does it really matter? It’s not as if I can declare myself allergic to grass and stop cutting it every time it decides to grow. I’m still the only adult living here. It won’t cut itself for me no matter how many times I curse at the blisters I got from pushing the lawn mower.

Besides that, the house is great. I’m down to putting the finishing touches and only three boxes to unpack. I actually see a future where I’m living in it instead of moving into it, and that is a happy thought.

Tales of Moving

I was sitting on the front porch swing the other night talking on the phone when my mother called me inside to dinner. Without thinking, I told my friend that I was being called to dinner.

“It’s not weird being back home?” my friend asked.

It isn’t…. most of the time.

After thirteen years of not living at home, I’m living with my parents for a few weeks until my house is move-in ready. Having not lived at home for so long, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was young when I moved out, and my parents set the rules until the day I moved into my first apartment as a married woman. I haven’t had their rules for a very long time, and though there still aren’t any rules, per se, there is respect for them as my parents and the gratefulness for their allowing me to stay here. It is awkward to be a mother living with my mother. Too much mothering going around some days that the children can take advantage of and not in any of the beneficial ways. Which is partly why it is a temporary living arrangement. Not to mention I have grown rather fond of my independence.

There’s also the little matter of no internet here. The first night I went to sleep early because I didn’t know what to do with myself when I couldn’t go online. The second night I picked up a book to avoid the withdrawal.

I’ve figured out that too much of my time is drained by being online. And though I will soon have it hooked up in the new house, it may be a good idea to limit some of my use. There’s so many things that I could be spending my time on besides glued to a computer that I think I needed the realization and the withdrawal to show me exactly how much time I’m wasting.

I’ve also experienced what it feels like to slow down and just spend time with people in simple conversation instead of rushing off to accomplish whatever is next on my list. I’m not likely to want to rush back into the hurried pace I keep to accomplish a to-do list just yet.

And though my move in date approaches, I think I will take advantage of this unexpected time with family as well as a little less technology.