Thoughts on Packing

Moving is an interesting experience. To me, who spent so many years living in the same place, it is a cathartic undertaking. Going through belongings, throwing out what you realize you no longer use nor need. Finding objects that you've been looking for all this time but accidentally got tucked into the wrong box long ago. Memories that no one else could ever understand that can make you just stop and stare at an origami box given to you over a decade ago or an ornamental plate given by your sibling that really reminds you of a joke form a long time ago concerning someone else. Most of the time, you never pay attention to these things when they hang on a wall or sit on a shelf, unless they require cleaning or someone else happens to see and comment. They become part of the background, just a piece of everyday life that no matter how important or trivial they are, you don't even notice.

The den is completely destroyed right now. The mantle is empty, the lights missing. Boxes are everywhere, mostly still waiting to be filled. I wish I could say I was a neat or organized packer, but mostly my method is to start with the most non-essential small items and move into the bigger and more cumbersome. Really starting to question how much I will allow the movers to touch, or more likely, how much they will move without charging extra. Sure we're only moving 4 miles away, but it still requires dismantling everything to do it. And there is much more to move now than was there 3 years ago.

Everything has changed during the time I have lived here. More than once. Cathartic to move, cathartic to stay. Something that I wish could have been much different. Somethings that never ever should have happened, some that perhaps should have. Odd to sit back and look at everything in the past tense and think of everything that led to this when the distance is only 4 miles. Electricity has been changed over, internet canceled as of sometime next week (no more shitty Verizon, we'll go without rather than pay for that again), just need to verify everything with the moving company (yay free!) and change over the mail.

Dunno if it would be easier if I was a gypsy. Never had the option. But, really, while I know it would scare the bejeebus out of me, I wish I were moving across country, far away from all that I had already known. Then, at least, I could be free of some of the spells that hold me in place when I should be running.