The Adventures of Moving

For the past few years I have spent my summers in Utah to be closer to my kids. Then I head back to Washington for the school year to get work substituting in the schools. This year when I went back to Washington, I sat at home for two weeks with very little interaction, no work, and mostly political phone calls. There were the occasional calls from my aunt Donna but most of my interaction came from Facebook.That is when I finally felt, I am done here. It is time to move on to a new adventure and what an adventure it has been!

When I finally decided to move to Utah permanently, things started moving fast. I had a lot of time to pack, so I did a few boxes everyday. I made one dump run, overfilled my garbage can weekly and made at least 6 Goodwill runs.  When you have time to pack, you can pack things just the way you want. It was nice. Two of my dear friends from Redmond came over to Sequim to pack some of my kitchen and bookshelf. It was so fun to have them there and spend time together. Very few friends in Sequim offered to help box, and  by the time they did, it was to late and I was done. I don't think they realized how soon I was leaving.

I don't know how anyone tackles major events in their lives without a church family. When it came time to load the truck, Jeffrey had flown home to help me. The 16-18 year old boys from church and their leaders came to help. One of the leaders is my second cousin Vance Willis. He is an amazing packer! We packed a 27 foot U-Haul but it wasn't enough. I needed another 17' truck that I would drive. So the next day Jeffrey and Vance packed the small truck and we were finally ready to head out.

The first leg of the trip was from Sequim to Portland and it rained the entire way. I asked Jeffrey if he wanted to travel with the cat or dog. He chose the cat and I was glad. Our hotel nights with the animals were great. They were traveling pretty well and they behaved in the hotels-. The second day we went from east Portland to Burley, Idaho. It rain all the way to Boise and was a long day but having walkie talkies with us made it nice. Somewhere before crossing into Utah, Jeffrey heard a strange noise so we stopped and checked out the trucks but couldn't find anything wrong.

Two times after that cars driving by were trying to tell Jeffrey something about his van. We would stop and check it out but saw nothing. Upon returning the van to the U-Haul store, Chris and Jeffrey realized that the back inside tire was flat! We were so blessed not to have an accident driving with that flat!

So for now, I have 3/4 of my stuff in the new house that I don't own yet, 1/4 is in storage and a few odds and ends are with me. I have no idea where most of my clothes are, where any of my make-up is, and I am living in a basement with boxes surrounding me so I feel like I am in a cave with two animals! This is definitely and adventure.

How am I holding up with all this? Better at times. I have lost 8 pounds most likely from stress. I feel homeless (and if you know the 'Forgotten Carols' I am guessing you are singing right now like my kids keep doing.)  Honestly, it feels like I don't belong anywhere. Very strange feelings for me but that is honestly how I am feeling. Helpless, lost, unsure, nervous, displaced and sometimes sad.  It is all very strange, but I know it is just temporary.