We finally moved last week. My experience confirms the myriad of lists claiming moving is one of the top five life stressors. I’m also grateful to God that it was only moving stress and nothing more serious. We made it out alive😉, relatively in-tact physically, and are giving ourselves the grace time to adjust.
Walking through this process led to practical and emotional upset, questions about the future and a host of other unexpected events. I recorded more than I planned, so this will be a series of posts. I apologize in advance for the wavering past/present tense.
The Top 10 Highlight Reel (sans photos):
- We planned relocation.
Instead, we are two miles from our sold home in a new-build apartment. We have a storage unit and another move is imminent.
2. The house sold in less than 24 hours.
This packing-up-our-life just got real.
3. The stuff.
This packing thing is easy, I tell myself. Then, it’s hard. The initial save, give and garbage piles were easy. Subsequent deeper dives into photos, books, kids’ original writings and poems – what gets tossed, donated and kept in storage – much, much harder.
4. The reminiscing.
My 20-something kids hold up books with soft faces, “I remember you reading this!”
The cards, holiday decorations, prom dresses, hard-earned trophies, sports equipment, endless jerseys. My kids decide that now is a good time to have us all settle into the living room, watching family memories on DVDs…Sure, I’m not emotional enough.
5. The property.
There is history on the land. Faded memories of baseball, field hockey and soccer games out on the five and half green acres. The summers in and around the pool. Walks in the woods on the path my husband painstakingly cultivated. Riding snowmobiles and quads.
6. I won’t miss the house.
But, I’m very sad and nostalgic about the end of this life season. Unlike most relatively new empty nesters, I still miss the full-family under the same roof.
7. Perspective.
I’m 56, about to be 57. When we moved into this house 16 years ago, it wasn’t this difficult. Mentally, emotionally, physically.
8. The diamond ring.
A couple weeks after the sale, we were knee-deep in an every-room-in-the-house mess. While I was packing up his bedroom, my son yells for me to come downstairs. He hands my husband and I a box with an engagement ring. Hugs ensue.
9. The proposal, party, and medical issues.
My son decides the surprise proposal will be four days before we move. Her parents and us secure a room at an amazing restaurant and plan the menu, decorations, etc., for an engagement party. Our youngest was already flying into town to say goodbye to her childhood home. Her husband also flies in from Texas for the big life event. My eldest daughter stays over. We have a house full of grown kids with a skeleton kitchen, no food and minimal furniture.
It’s been a minute since us girls needed a party dress…we shop – for us and gifts for the bride-to-be.
My future daughter in law’s father is hospitalized.
My husband needs a medical procedure the morning of the engagement party.
While I’m in the waiting room while my husband is worked on, my youngest texts, “I woke up with a raging sore throat and I think I have a fever.” I squeeze my eyes tight. Do I laugh? Seriously? She texts: “Where is the thermometer? Tea? A coffee mug?”
By mid-day, my daughter is dragging. I look in her throat with her phone light and see white everywhere.
We stop at urgent care on the way to the restaurant.
Yes, we all made it to the surprise engagement party before they arrived. Whew.
10. The move.
The last moments before the new owners do their final walk through. Driving down the long, country drive one final time.
Apartment life.
More to come in the weeks ahead…
Thank you for reading!
Featured Image: https://centomoving.com/
Tales from a Mid-Lifer 
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