Almost ready

 Our time in this home is coming to an end. It is impossible to believe that on Monday we sell our house and on Tuesday we begin our lives anew in West Virginia. Packing up has been cathartic as I weed through every possession our family has accumulated over nearly two decades, trying to cull out what is useful and needed, what has gone beyond its usefulness for us and needs to be donated, and what is linked to memories that are cherished. The task has been emotional and exhausting, but we are finally coming to an end. 

This weekend will be spent packing and disassembling our Virginia lives in anticipation for Monday. Ready or not, it looks like we are moving!  Wish us luck, we are going to need it.

Packing

Yesterday was spent focusing on packing and purging Robby's room. I found it considerably easier to pack everything up with him residing in the dorm.  After 6 hours, an obscene number of boxes and a ginormous trash bag, his room is nearly ready for the move. Our walls are bare and our home is beginning to feel more like a house that we are exiting. 

My goal today is to finish Robby's bedroom and perhaps the computer room. I am trying to push packing the kitchen until the end of the week because living without plates and cuts feels very inconvenient. While I've been busy packing the boxes Scott has spent his time ferrying them downstairs to the basement. Slowly but surely, we are getting there.

Pack-a-palooza day #2, wish us luck.

Thanksgiving

 This past Thanksgiving was difficult. Between navigating the move, the sudden change in my employment status and the first holiday after Jae was killed by Lt. John Ellen in Austin Texas on April 3, joy was elusive. It is no secret that I am struggling this year to tap into the holiday spirit. At this point, I'm thinking of throwing up the white flag and calling it a minimalist Christmas.

I spent Friday and Saturday with Scott selling at the mall. Yesterday I stayed home and packed while Robby and Scott handled the sales. After the mall closed Rob was ferried back to his dorm to finish out the semester. It is hard to believe that his semester finishes in two weeks. In many ways it feels like I just dropped him off at school, but so much as transpired it also feels like a lifetime ago. 

This week is all about packing. We go to settlement in one week from today (yikes) and the movers arrive next Tuesday. It is hard to believe that this is all going to happen. Of course, I keep waiting for a wrench to hijack the process. After the year that I've had, nothing would surprise me anymore.