Moving

I've got two friends who are in the process of moving. That process has highs, like the anticipation of an adventure, as well as lows, like the last hour of packing where every box just becomes "miscellaneous" and stuff just gets thrown in. I also really disliked the final cleaning of the old place for the new owners.

So, I've been thinking about the places we moved into this morning and what I fondly remember about each place.

Our first apartment: I remember decorating it for our first Christmas together. Tracy purchased a paper mache reindeer who had one foot that was shorter than the rest. I also remember that's where I learned that you can really singe your arm hair if you don't pay attention to the charcoal on the grill.

Our first home: I remember we goofed on calculations for the wallpaper border for the nursery and in the corner no one looked at it appeared someone smooshed a teddy bear into it. It had hardwood floors, which we loved, and we redid the kitchen floor in black and white checkerboard tiles and it had PINK walls. Teenagers came over to that house ALL the time.

When we moved to Dallas, we moved into a house that we'd never seen and it was arranged through the seminary's housing office. It was actually okay, but we could only have "outdoor" pets. Buford had to make an adjustment. I remember it primarily because the neighbors were nice. Our neigbhors on one side were cartoonish Texans, complete with cowboy boots as planters on their porch, and they were potty training their kids which included a child's potty on that same porch. They invited us to the dirt track races and tractor pulls and we found out later that Rusty had pirated the cable into our home so he wouldn't get caught pirating cable into his home if we ordered cable from the company.

The next place we lived was a duplex we lived in for only 7 months but it seemed like 5 years. We were great friends with the couple on the other side who had girls the same age as our girls. There were late nights hanging out with friends, teenagers over, it was busy and fun and stressful (jobs and seminary) and warp speed. The only time we've lived on a split level set up. I don't miss that at all.

We moved to Flower Mound and had a rental home for a year. It was nice and had a big backyard for the girls to play in and Buford still had to live outside. We broke the driveway when we moved in because the truck weighed too much and apparently some erosion had taken place underneath it. We still see the repair when we drive by.

Then we moved into our current home. The teenagers came by after school and moved us about two blocks. This has been the place where so much has happened in 8 years with memories that I can't really explain a lot of that here, but the biggest thing that has happened because we haven't moved in 8 years is the amount of clutter that you just keep because you have space.

So, moving like a nomad keeps you a minimalist...and I really should do something about the garage and my closet. Maybe I should pretend I'm moving in a week...