Packing Day

The day before packing day, Mom and I worked all day to get the house ready. It seems ridiculous to pack things to get ready for people to pack, almost like cleaning before the cleaning lady comes. But it still had to be done. I packed our clothes and things we knew we needed to survive the next week (or two). We packed it all in the car so I would know it would all fit, and what we had room for. We’d already taken everything off the walls, patched the holes and touched up the paint. And gone over the list of things the movers wouldn’t pack and sent a lot of it on ahead with Husband or planned for Mom & Dad to bring it later. Then we were ready.

The kids and I spent the night at Mom and Dad’s and hung out with Curly, Deputy Guy, Q, and E, and Trump. Trump helped Caedmon catch fireflies and we all sat out on the trampoline and watched the neighbors shoot fireworks. It was a great evening.

Packing Day came. The packers arrived with their truck full of boxes, tape, and packing paper. They wasted little time and got right to work. They packed all day, and it was interesting to watch them. It was the first time I’d not packed our stuff myself. It felt strange to watch other people do the work, especially after the previous two weeks of working from the time I got up in the morning until late at night. I was glad to sit a little while and let them take care of things.

The only downside is that I don’t know what box stuff is in…which might be a problem later on, but right now I’m not going to care about that.

Mom brought Caedmon and Honor over for a little bit. I wanted Caedmon to see part of the process – the boxes and the stuff going into them. He had still had concern that his favorite things were going to stay at our “old house,” and I thought that if he saw that pretty much everything except our furniture was going into a box, he’d understand a little better. Then, they hung out at Mimi’s the rest of the afternoon. It was nice that they were having fun and being loved on while I couldn’t be with them.

I did, however, warn one of the packers that I was throwing something away and if Caedmon came looking for it later, I was totally blaming her for losing it. I don’t think it’s the first time she’s been blamed for something like that.

And y’all, don’t get all upset thinking that I threw away some precious item. It was a metal TV tray – pink with kittens on it. For some reason, Caedmon adored that thing, but it was bent beyond the ability to use it normally, and I was tired of it dumping things on the floor and him losing his mind every time I tried to get rid of it. It was a painless way to dispose of it. At least until he discovers a month from now that it’s gone.

The packers finished about 7pm. Our whole house, packed in one day.

As I sat and watched these people I’d just met that morning pack our worldly possessions, I thought about “stuff.” Stuff we didn’t need. Stuff we could do without. Stuff I really liked. Stuff I didn’t care about. Stuff I wished I could get rid of, but didn’t belong to me. Stuff. When it came down to it, it was all just stuff. Replaceable stuff. Almost everything I considered to be of value was already out of the house. It had been sent with Husband to the new house already, or I had it in my car. And the things I hold most dear aren’t even things – Husband, our kids, family, and friends. It puts perspective on a lot of things.

So as we sit in our new house without our stuff (until Saturday, probably), we really are ok. We came prepared to be without it for a while. We have places to sleep, a kitchen, Caedmon has some toys, and I managed to fit a small TV and DVD player in the car. We are “camping” in our house, and I’m enjoying the moments before the truck arrives and I become a bit neurotic because boxes will be everywhere.

And we have the most important thing – each other.