Sorry No Posting -- We've Been Moving

Gilbert Meilander once wrote about moving.  He likened it, for the young, single person, to flitting about in a glider.  You want to go left?  You go left.  Want to dip?  You dip.  Wham.  That easy.

With a family?  It's different.  More like commanding an aircraft carrier. You want to go left?  You signal about six months in advance, and begin a process that throws every hand on deck into upheaval.  More accurately, it's like commanding an aircraft carrier to begin turning left, then losing your glasses, iPod, and underwear for a week.

I can't find anything.

At least we're wired now. Good news: When you move, you find stuff you've been missing for years.  My "West Houston Bowling" shirt is back, as is my "I Love Tater Tots" t-shirt, just in time to be uncomfortably late in referencing Napoleon Dynamite.  No sign of Nigel's leg -- thanks for asking.

Comments

[Brady]

Moving is like commanding an aircraft carrier? Hardly. On a carrier, the captain decides when to move left or right. In a family, you decide you'd like to move, then the family tries to wear you down to do what they want, not what you want. Often they win, unless it's a matter of income and their not having all the stuff they're used to.
I would say a better analogy is that with a family, moving is like being on a log-rolling contest with some other contestants on the same log, in the middle of a stream. You might want to go in one direction or another, but goodness knows where you'll actually end up!

[Rainer]

Brant,

I understand... We're in the middle of it right now. Theoretically, most of everything we own is in a big steel box on a ship somewhere between Odessa, Ukraine, and Halifax, Canada. Somewhere.

I say theoretically - because I'm assuming the box actually left Odessa when it was supposed to. Here's hoping we see our "stuff" again sometime!

Ain't moving fun?

[Doug]

I missed reading your posts, hope the torture that is moving is over for you soon.

[cool dad]

i'm not sure what to think or feel or eat now that i know that your underwear is MIA.

[Michelle Van Loon]

The first time our family moved, I found Fisher Price Little People under the couch. My kids were playing with Legos at that point, and didn't care about that weird Snoopy-like black and white cylindrical dog I wanted to return to them.

The second time our family moved, I found Legos under the couch. My kids were driving by that point, so they joined Little People Dog on the Island of Misfit Toys.

[maryann]

did it so many times i have dreams now and then that i just decide to walk away from it..."let the poor come and take what they want...what i really need is right here in this suitcase and this one box."

(yah right! ever see me pack for a weekend at the beach?)

[Fred]

My wife and I have moved five times in the 28 years we've been married. We STILL have stuff in boxes that we packed for our second move. I've forgotten what was in some of those boxes.

[M.E.]

Ack! I feel for you. I really do. But there is one good thing about moving. You can look at something and say "Is this REALLY worth the hassle of moving?" And hopefully you won't find any Brooklyn Dodgers shirts buried under your lost underwear. Then again, there's always E-Bay. ;)

[Grub]

Arey ou trying to tell us that you're not wearing any underwear...yucky

[sonja]

Of course, knowing where your West Houston Bowling shirt is and not knowing where your glasses are ... hmmm ... somehow those scales don't line up.

Here's to finding what you need and losing what you don't ...

[RevJeff]

The good part comes when you find exzctly what you were looking for ... "three years ago."

[amy]

Due to a - shall we say - catastrophic flood - we got to move out of our house and right back into the same one three months later. Talk about anti-climactic.

[Greg]

Big baby.

[Monica Battaile]

I've moved 8 times in 33 years - 7 of those before I was 26 and got married. Of course, that was Marine Corps moving - it was always an adventure! :)

Good luck, and I hope your stuff gets to where it's supposed to. I just found a box of stuff last month that I thought I lost 6 years ago...

[Steve_11]

Brant - are you leaving the posh W. Palm Beach area? Where y'all headed and why?

We have lived in the same house for 14 years (to the day, today). I do not want to ever move because the sorting through all the accumulated items would be too stressful. I leave that to those who inherit my "estate". I guess I get that from my parents who are in the same house for 36 years. I will be sifting through their stuff someday.....

[Adrianne]

Look at it this way Amy, you got to rearrange your furniture and have a whole new look. If it makes you feel better I will be making a move from the master bedroom into the smaller bedroom across the hall. Anti-climatic doesn't even do the situation justice.