November 7, 2006

Countdown to Moving Day

When Tiffany and I got married in 1998 and moved into a little apartment in Montgomery, AL, it took a small truck, a few hours, and one friend.

In 2000, when we moved from Montgomery to an apartment in Fort Worth, TX, it was a little more difficult, but not terribly so. We had a few friends and some family help us out and it wasn’t a big deal.

In 2002, when we moved a couple blocks from our apartment to our house, it took a little bigger truck and an entire “hometeam” (a small group of friends from our church). But that wasn’t too bad either.

In less than four days, we’ll be moving across the country once again. This time the destination is Marietta, GA, and this time, it’s quite a bit more challenging. We’re hiring a company to do loading and driving, but we’re still doing the packing. Here are a few things we’ve learned so far.

Moving has a way of stripping clutter from your life. Do we really need three sets of drink coasters? Naaa, just take ‘em to Good Will. Do we really need to keep this grill that has no wheels? Every time we used it, we had to drag it across the grass leaving behind two parallel ditches like we’re disking a corn field.

Donate. If at all possible, don’t throw it away. Give it away. We set that crippled, wheels-off grill on our front lawn with a “free” sign on it, and it was gone in less than half an hour. Maybe he needed to plow his garden while he grilled burgers. Give away your technology too. As much as I wanted to keep that old computer in the attic with Windows 95 and a massive 4GB hard-drive (hint: that’s tiny, mom), I found someone at a non-profit ministry organization on ShareTechnology.org who needed that piece of junk and was willing to come to my house to pick it up the next day. Also, streamline your wardrobe. If you’ve not worn a shirt in the last year, get rid of it. It definitely won’t be looking better to you next season.

Start early. As soon as we signed a contract our house, we went and got boxes. We pack at least two to three boxes per day. Do your best maintain consistent box sizes, so that they stack better.

Make lots of lists. I have my lovely wife to thank for this. We have a master spiral notebook with pages and pages of notes about what needs to be done and when they need to be done.

Make time to say goodbye. I visited my pals at Lifetime Guarantee this week, and I’ll also knock on my neighbors’ doors too. Some friends are throwing us a going away party on Wednesday night. That will be special because they are all Caleb’s friends too. They all have kids his age. They also all have a second child around a year old or younger. I think the joy of their second child is so fresh for most of them that it seemed almost effortless for them to grieve with us over losing Anna.

Making this move home without her is just not right. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She had grandparents anxious to spoil her, a brother who wanted to warm her bottle for her, aunts and uncles excited about knowing her, a mommy who wanted to love on her, and a daddy who wanted to kiss her and call her Anna Banana. I’ve never met her, but I already knew we were going to be so close.

Wow, that was a tough paragraph to write. I didn’t envision this article going there, but it seems like that’s where every other thought of mine has been going lately. And this is my blog so deal with it :)

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