The Move is happening in eleven weeks and three days. That may seem like plenty of time to get everything done, but I assure you, it is not. I have to declutter and pack up a 4,400 square foot house while trying to manage taking care of the rest of my usual chores. In addition to kid stuff, mowing, laundry, more kid stuff, and then some kid stuff, I'm keeping the house in "showing" condition and packing as much as humanly possible every day. So far, things are going pretty well. I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff - a LOT - by donating it to a local church. As an awesome bonus, Fausto, who has done house painting work for us in the past, comes and picks everything up from us. Score! The trick is to get rid of things while the kids are at school or otherwise occupied. If they're around, every single thing I try to put in the donation box becomes the VERY BEST TOY EVER IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. Quite frankly, I sort of have to pull the same shenanigans with Trevor. I found a box of files that had some of his old phone records and random bills from when he was in law school. Uh huh. I'm really glad he moved those from house to house without ever opening the box. So, bye-bye bills. Bye-bye college textbooks. Bye-bye gross, sweat-stained baseball hats. (And you just know he's going to read this now and immediately begin to squirrel things away. Here's a tip for you, T: you had better start bolting things down because Mama's going scorched earth and there's nowhere to hide.)
It's not just that it costs about a billion dollars per pound for a long-distance move. I mean, that's a huge factor, but it's more that I am ready to live a simpler life. I want less...stuff. Less stuff to clean, to care for, to worry about, to move, and to contain. I want to spend more time with my family and the people I love. I want to spend more time doing what I love to do and enjoying each day as it comes. I'm always going to have the memories associated with the things even if I don't have the things, you know? If the whole cancer brouhaha taught me anything, it's that being happy doesn't come from having things; it comes from appreciating all of the intangibles in life. Peace comes from forgiving, starting over, and moving on; it doesn't come from holding on to what you don't need. Don't get me wrong: I still have stuff but I think a lot less of it will help me focus on what's really valuable in my life.
