I'm Alive

While philosophers still debate the meaning of life, I can say that, with regards to the commonly accepted use of the term, I'm alive. Exhausted, but alive.

I took off Friday and Monday so I could do a double run to Marin County to pack and move the last of our stuff. The plan was also to pick up Debbie on the first run and bring her back on the second, so she could see where we now live and we could have a little family time.

The first run went fine. I rented a cargo van, drove to Marin, did some packing and loaded up the cargo van, and took Deb with me back to Oregon. Then we woke up Sunday morning, and it was snowing heavily with storm warnings out. On top of which, the cargo van was stuck in our driveway and didn't want to move.

So Sunday we just hung out at the house. Monday morning we woke up and it was raining out, a lot of snow had melted, all the icicles were gone and I was able to move the van. Debbie and I headed out and she helped me pack up that night in Marin. Tuesday I did more packing and loading and headed north again. Despite dicey road conditions and stormy weather, I made it home alive. At two in the morning. Then today I resumed work.

In the meantime, my biceps are getting disturbingly large for a geek. All these weeks of moving boxes around have transformed them from their typical stealth condition into something normally seen on guys who work out. I don't work out.

Despite all this effort, I'm still not done moving. I was able to get everything out of the house, and I even vacuumed, but there's still a bunch of junk in the garage. So this weekend I'll be doing another run to Marin, and it will be the last to the old house.

While I was in Marin this last trip, the mail lady stopped by to give us our mail and asked how the move was going. She wanted to know if we were using the move to "feng shui" our collection of possessions. In other words, to downsize. I'd never heard that used as a verb before. We've been trying to do just that. The problem is, I'm a packrat. There's a little demon in me that hates to throw anything away that I could conceivably use in the near future. Or even the far future. Each item I've been "garbaging" has been accompanied by a wail in my head from the packrat demon.

"Nooooooo!" he wails. "Don't throw that away. You might need it some time! You're wasting money. You'll never find it again. Keep that!"

Moving is really hard. If you heed my advice, you'll never move. Just stay where you are. It's easier that way.


Blog Tag: Chatter