Moving Day 1: Packing

Today was Day 1 of the move. We have anticipated it for weeks, planned the items which we would need to keep, and discovered we had accumulated a lot of stuff that was not worth moving. In the final preparation last night, I cooked the last meal that I will ever prepare in our Queens apartment -- since my knives and our pots would soon be boxed for Colorado (leave comments if you want the recipe).

We hired the moving company to do a full pack. So far, it seems to have been worth it. The entire apartment was wrapped and boxed in under three hours. I don't think we expected the whirlwind performance of the crew, which consisted of a person for each room. There was barely any room to walk through the apartment for about an hour.

How do you manage a baby in such a ruckus? Trick question, you don't. The solution is to hand the kid to Grammy and let her take him on a long walk through the neighborhood. Maybe stop in a shop or two and buy him some nice outfits and books. By the time they returned from their local tour, the most intense period of the packing was finished.

The walls are bare, the office shelves have been cleared, and the kitchen cabinets are empty. I freaked out when all those things I take for granted being there were suddenly gone. The fact that our home of ten years is going to hold that title for only a few more days is sinking in a bit more each day. I think I'll feel better, even think more clearly tomorrow after the movers remove the boxes and furniture. The apartment will be back in its empty state, almost as it was back when Kiersten and I first moved in together. I'd like to think we are passing on something special to the new owners -- that they will have as interesting and as memorable a journey as we have had living here.