Moving Out
How many times have we done this in the last few years?
This particular session may have been easier if we called an end to the celebration last night a bit earlier, but we’ll endure.
Had to be out of our place by 1pm, and since yesterday saw our landlady waiting with a tow truck to the minute another tenant was supposed to move out…we figured we shouldn’t push our luck.
Things went pretty well as we’ve been living in a mostly empty apartment for the last week and someone showed up earlier today to pick up the mattress, but once everything was outside and the game of tetris that is fitting things in the van began…it became clear we were in trouble. We had figured out earlier in the week exactly how many bins and suitcases of storage items would fit and still allow us to pull out the bed to sleep on the way to Portland…we just hadn’t calculated quite right.
Phoned a friend for a last minute bail out and Mark and Michelle ran a final load to the salvation army while we kept cramming items into an already full bus while neighbors stopped in to say goodbye and see us off.
We made it out by 1, slipped the keys under the door and went for noodle box, a celebratory beer and say our goodbyes to Mark and Michelle. As we sat, reality set in that we had no free square inch and karma was already trying to squeeze in between the shifter and the E-brake…not exactly road worthy. While we felt great about how easily the items we are actually taking on our trip fit, the list of “keep” items for storage was simply too long. We decided to do yet another purge.
Pulled into our old stomping grounds and under the canopy where we had painted the bus a year ago and went at it. Pulled everything out and reduced our load by almost half. It’s so funny how easy it is to part with something when you frame it in the right context. 2 hours earlier it was far easier to simply throw it in a bin and deal with it at a later date…but when it’s preventing the very mobility you’ve spent years trying to create…it goes. PS. After years of debate with Jen, Karmas reindeer horns indeed now reside elsewhere.
It is after all, just “stuff”.