It's Really Here

In the morning, my brother, BW and 2 other strong guys are arriving at 9. Bro and BW are coming in a 24' UHaul truck. They're going to load up almost everything in the house, except for things we need to live here for 2 more days. After we load up, it's off to Worcester for the unloading and initial setup.

All the boxes going tomorrow are staged in the living room upstairs (shown here) and the playroom downstairs

This house has an incredible amount of storage. These built-in pine shelves are in the playroom. The paneling in the room was milled from trees we cut down to clear the lot for the house.

We better not forget the few wine bottles in the cellar. We bought those bottle on a trip to Northern California with my parents 10 years ago. We don't drink much!

Skip and I will sleep in our new home on Tuesday night, just in time to see the Worcester fireworks. Apparently, we'll be able to see them from our condo. We're using Monday to do more prep both in Worcester and here so the place is a bit more settled when Skip and the pups roll into town.

Let the moving begin!

The Home Stretch

Hard to believe this, but in less than a week, we'll be living in our condo.

As anyone who has ever worked with me knows, I'm a last minute kind of gal. Very deadline-driven. In the case of moving, though, I've been working at it steadily since the house sold. I've had my friend BW helping me. For a few weeks, he came once a week, then twice a week, and now he's here 5 days a week. I'm so lucky to have him. He's the hardest worker I've ever had the pleasure to do this kind of project with. He comes at 8 and stays until 4 and hardly ever stops. He's independent and full of great ideas. My biggest challenge working with him is keeping a few steps ahead in the sorting process so I can have things ready for him to pack.

Up until today, we focused our sorting and packing efforts on things that wouldn't impact Skip's and my day-to-day living. Since I only have BW until Friday and our first moving day is Sunday, I figured I couldn't postpone packing up the kitchen, master bath bedroom any longer.

Up until now, I haven't felt much emotion going through the endless array of stuff needing to be handled. Sheepish at the sheer volume of it all. Confidence as we've steadily worked through it all, knowing we'd be ready in time for the move. A tinge of sadness at all the things I'm saying goodbye to - books I'll never have time to read again, records I'll never listen to again, clothes that no longer fit since I've regained so much of the 100 lbs I lost 10 years ago. Now that I'm packing up dishes and spices and food, emptying out the kitchen, it's really hitting me: very soon, this house will no longer be ours. The home of my youth, the house my parents built, the place where I really became a responsible adult (after we moved back here 23 years ago) ... soon that home will belong to a young family that can't wait to send their kids off to the town's wonderful school system. Funny that packing floss and deodorant and bandaids can be such a sad exercise.

I'm sure the last time I see this house, when I close the door behind me, I'll feel a deep sadness. But I know this move is the right one for us, so that sadness will be tempered by the happiness of moving into our new home, settling in there, and beginning to take advantage of all that Worcester will offer us.