I am preparing for my second move in nine months. I now appreciate what those kids went through whose parents were in the military or had some other job that kept them on the move every few years. I have not been a frequent mover. My current house is transitional and I knew it wouldn't be long before I moved again but before that I lived in one place for twenty-six years. My family accumulated tons of stuff...literally. We were sort of the family historians and I have five generations of stuff going back to my wife's great grandmother. But now it's just me and I'm the curator of a family museum.
My current move is long distance....about 1,000 miles...and I have already made two trips to make the new place livable until the "big" move takes place. My last trip was with a U-haul trailer, which went fine until a wheel fell of in Wichita. U-haul has a pretty good emergency road service and I was planning on spending the night in Wichita anyway. They got me a new trailer and transferred my stuff and got me on my way with only about a 2 1/2 hour delay. This was in a driving rainstorm...something like seven inches of rain in two days.
My "big" move will be with a movong company. I've been doing this alone up to this point but I'm running out of steam. The cost is going to run about $1 per pound of stuff, approximately. I have started looking at things with a new awareness. Do I really need four or five boxes of photo albums? Grandpa's chifferobe is nice but it is quarter-sawn oak and weighs a lot so it won't be going. Great grandma's blanket chest is going because I can fill it with stuff.
Our DNA gets wrapped around some of the stuff and it can't be left behind. I'm taking my parents old Crosley radio cabinet just because it is part of me. I listened to sputnik on that thing and the news reports of our own early space program. It had a shortwave band and I could listen to Paris and (OMG) Moscow and the BBC. The actual radio is long gone and the cabinet served as a makeshift bar and DVD cabinet but I'll find something for it to do in the new place.
Moving day is about a week away and I have about sixty boxes packed already. I'm living out of the dishwasher and clothes dryer and having exceptionally large meals. I'm getting down to the weird stuff that doesn't really go with anything else...boxes of "mixed" things that will be a surprise when I open them up. I'm disposing of things that I won't be taking. Goodwill is getting tired of seeing me so I'll probably switch to Salvation Army for a few days.
My new house is about the same size as the current house but it doesn't have a basement. I won't have any place to hide my exercise bike so I'll probably start using it. That would be good. I suspect that my garage will be so full of boxes that I won't be able to fit a car inside. They say nothing rusts out in the desert so the cars can sit outside for a while.
I'm going to miss my current house more than the one I lived in for so long. This house is about 105 years old and has a quirky personality to it. It sits on a hill overlooking the Missouri River valley and catches some nice breezes in the evenbing and half the morning. The basement is a dungeon with a partial brick floor and a rock foundation that weeps a little in rainy weather. The garage is so old it has carriage doors and a loft. There was probably a horse in there at one time. Most of the back yard is covered with spearmint that escaped from a now vanished garden. Cutting the grass is almost intoxicating.
So I'll soon be relocated in the New Mexico desert. I'll keep in touch. Wish me luck
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