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Moving

If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.  ~J.M. Power

mov·ing

   [moo-ving] 

adjective

1. capable of or having movement: a moving object.

2. causing or producing motion.

3. involved in changing the location of possessions, a residence, office, 

etc.: moving expenses.

4. involving a motor vehicle in motion.

5. actuating, instigating, or impelling: the moving spirit behind the party.

After over a year of planning, we are finally, if not 100% on-the-road, at the very least entering the on-ramp.  Last night we spent the first of many nights as a family in our new home-on-wheels. It was a LONG day.


On Sunday, 11/27, Steve stayed overnight at the campground after driving down a 4th time since Friday to bring some of our belongings to the camper.   I went to bed at 12am and woke at 4am on Monday, 11/28, the day of the closing.  I was beyond stressed looking at all of the stuff that still needed to be packed to go to Eagle or to my mom's & dad's house, but felt there was still enough time to get it done before 12 noon.  However, noon arrived rather quickly, so we returned for another 2 1/2 hours after the closing to finish.  I had 
spent Friday packing the UHaul truck we rented.  

Walking out with the last item.

Here's how Monday went.


4am-12pm like a motor pack pack pack clean pack pack pack sneak a glass of vino pack pack pack
12pm-12:45 shoot to Friendship Lodge #7 to drop off our Ram truck loaded with stuff, take car on a rocket run to McDonald's for lunch  
1:00-1:30 cruise to the house closing, which went as unbelievably smoothly as this entire house-selling process has been from the beginning.
1:30-3:30 speed back to our "former" home to sweat and scream through the final packing
3:30-9:30 zip to mom's house to unload the entire fully-packed 20 foot UHaul truck...Officer Collins came to help and take a plethora of police paraphernalia and dive equipment...Lloyd and Cathy prepped that attic for us and our years of crap-ola.
9:30-10:00 ride back up to Friendship Lodge to move much of the stuff in the rental Sonata into the back of the truck
10:00-10:20 roll on down to Ace Hardware to return the empty UHaul truck and then motor back to grab the truck
1:20-11:20 travel to East Lyme with both vehicles packed with the last of our belongings (well, except for a couple pieces of furniture we have to grab next weekend)


Wipe down the kids, slap together some beds, throw them in, crack a couple of cans, and just sit and stare...Holy Shit, we did it.

Tonight is the last night I will ever sleep at 384 Durfee Hill Road.  Today, I told Brendan it was his last night, and his response was, Oh Good!   Chloe later told me she would miss this house. Ian is excited, but a little melancholy, too, as am I.  I think Steve joins us in these feelings.

I will miss this home, too.  But I think I will miss what it might have been in the next 5-15 years.  I saw a more cozy home, with better furniture and a "finished" look.  I saw my kids and their friends hanging in the tree house and barn loft, and Steve spending more time there as well.   I saw more parties and new friends being welcomed.  

But as quickly as those images come to mind, so does the reality of full-time work, still in EP, taking me away from all of it.  I was being stretched too thin for what this place "could" become and missing out on all it was already.  

Tonight, I drift between sadness, excitement, and shear exhaustion.   Tomorrow, when all the storage is placed at my very wonderful parents' house, and the keys have been transferred, we can head to our, now over-packed Eagle, and begin anew.  The new owners are lovely people who I know will thoroughly enjoy this house and appreciate the love with which we filled it.

So, time to get back to work and continue packing.  I think we may need a bigger camper!

I realized the last pictures of the house were the old look...so here is what the new buyers get.

We set a goal, and we saw it through.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.  ~T.S. Eliot





Steve retired from the police department; I left my job as a teacher.   We sold or gave away most of our possessions, pulled our children from school, sold our house, and hoped for the best.


Now, with the closing on Monday, the last year-and-a-half's work towards this goal of a new life seems within our reach.

Today, Steve drove Eagle down to our new abode...Aces High Campground in East Lyme, CT.  This small campground is 15 minutes from Mohegan Sun, 3 miles from rt 95, and 6 miles from the ocean.  This is a temporary spot while STeve continues to work at Mohegan.  We'll be there for probably 4 months, then decide if we should stay longer, or go.

People keep asking me how I feel; if I am excited, nervous, sad, scared.   I cant say right now.  I am kind of numb, running on fumes.  The enormous mental energy needed to pour through every scrap of paper and item you own wears you down.  Yesterday, I stood in what was once my dining room just staring, wondering how I would get it all done.  After procuring a large U-Haul truck this morning, and enjoying about 7-8 sets of visitors all coming to pick stuff up, the house looks pretty empty.   In fact, the past 2 weeks have been a buzz of people coming to buy or accept many of the items we could not take with us on the road, or chose not to store.  I truly thank everyone who has done this.   The thought of tossing perfectly good pieces of furniture, toys, clothing, decor, appliances, etc., really bugs me.


I had wanted to blog more often, but I haven't had the energy or time.  I am really looking forward to my new found time.   Time to have a cup of coffee, read a book, sew, well, learn to sew, play with my kids, teach them, learn new things myself.  


Of course, I have no idea what the future holds.  Throughout this whole process, we have had very little control of anything that was going on.  It has all been an act of fate, destiny, God's intervention, or just pure dumb luck.  And so, as we prepare to walk up the steps into Eagle and begin our much simpler, and hopefully fulfilling, life, I will hold onto that sense of faith, karma, luck that has seen us through to this point.


Fingers Crossed.