Today I spent a large portion of the day packing my kitchen to move. I HATE packing the kitchen or anything else that requires individual wrapping. It is tedious, time consuming and it makes my head and back hurt. Blech.
Not only am I packing but I am also clearing out and sorting. The clearing out is absolutely necessary and once it is done I always feel really good. That being said, sometimes it is easier to just put stuff in a box that you know you don’t need and pretend you don’t realize what you’re doing. I’ve done that before. I always regret it because then you realize that your house is full of crap. Junk. Things that no longer hold any value to you. Things that spend their existence taking up space. I’ve never even come close to being a hoarder but I have an idea of how it starts. You rationalize the “need” to keep something forever even though you’ll never use it. Then you come with a reason to keep the item next to the first item. Before you know it, you’re a hoarder and you end up on a Dr. Phil special. Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m being dramatic. But it has to start somewhere, right?
The other objective in our packing is sorting. We need to sort the things we absolutely must have to live and the things we can do without for a couple of months. To understand this, I need to provide a little background….
Today was my husband’s last day of college. For the second time. The first time was 15 years ago. He entered college right after high school. Three years later he was in a difficult personal situation and got a job offer with a good salary. Like any twenty-something would, he took the job and never got his degree. Fifteen years later his VP job ended unexpectedly and we got the opportunity for him to come back to school and finish that final year of college. He has done extremely well despite being the “old man on campus” and the year has flown by.
Now the job hunt is on. It has been going on behind the scenes since March/April but now our focus is shifting to the job hunt full time. Of course, nothing for us goes easily. Our current landlord is requiring a long lease renewal with no early termination clause. Therefore, we are moving to an apartment with flexible terms until Robert finds a job. Hopefully that won’t take long. Keep your fingers crossed.
Going through the loss of a job, returning to college married with 3 children and depending on the kindness of others to make it all work has taken a toll on us. We are emotionally and physically exhausted. Our marriage is as solid as a rock and like all difficulties we have faced in the past, this has brought us closer. But it has been humbling. It has also made us reassess the things that are important in life. For the moment, however, the most pressing thing is making this move happen….
You can dump clothes in a box. Stuffed animals too. Dishes? Not so much. Blech……
