Preparing for the Move

In my last post, I shared with you what led up to my recent move to Texas. In this post, I will share with you what it took to prepare for that move of 844 miles.

We found out that we were making the move in the middle of November. My husband negotiated and accepted the position. His start date would be January 2. This meant that we would have to make our move between Christmas and New Year’s Day. If you are quick at doing the math, you have determined that we had approximately six weeks to pack a four bedroom home with a garage, a garden shed, and an offsite storage unit. We also had to find a moving company that was in our price range. In the midst of that, we had to list the house and celebrate the holidays. Both of us needed to continue to work in our current jobs as well. Can you say STRESS?

The race is on. We started to get boxes, mainly from my earlier move. My husband began sorting through pictures and memorabilia which he had received from his parents after their death. I started going through boxes of papers which needed to be shredded, thrown away, or saved. Our goal was to reduce the amount items we would be taking with us to Texas.

We identified a realtor to list our house and the week after Thanksgiving our house officially went on the market. Next, we secured a moving company and set the official moving date as December 27. Our focus then turned to packing boxes. I became well acquainted with the local UHaul store as I made frequent trips to buy a variety of boxes. Astonishing how many possessions you can accumulate over the years. The moving process does have one bright side with regard to packing, you discover items that you forgot you even had.

The week of the move arrived and chaos ensued. Christmas in the midst of that week. Family came to visit. We realized that time was short, and we had a lot of packing left to do. We rented a truck the weekend before the move, so we could bring all the items from the storage unit to the house. Sorting continued along with the packing. We took one break which was the day of Christmas when for a couple of hours we enjoyed an excellent meal and the exchanging of gifts.

With Christmas over, the final crunch time was upon us. The day after Christmas, all the decorations came down and were packed away. This was also the last day of work for my husband. We had less than 24 hours before the moving company would arrive and at least three days of packing ahead of us. Sleep would have to be the one thing which would need to be in short supply. This would also mean that our patience would be limited at best.

Stay tuned, my next post will share details of “moving day.”

A New Step

Life is an amazing journey. One of the aspects of life that always keeps it interesting is that you are never 100% sure where the journey is going to lead you. This has been true for me as I am sure it has been for you. In the last months, I have taken a brand-new step on my journey but to understand this step better I should probably give you some background.

I entered this world in the state Texas. But when I was about a year old, my parents decided to pack my two older sisters and myself up in their car and return to their home state of Iowa. I spent all my formative years in the same small town in northwest Iowa. After graduating from high school, I moved to the “big city” of Sioux City to attend college. During that year, I had a situation which cause me to get a little freaked out and that triggered a transfer of colleges at the end of the year. I was closer to home in Storm Lake. Following the closing of my college career, I accepted a management position with Target and was headed to Mason City, IA. For the first twenty-four years of my life, I mainly lived in Iowa.

Target transferred me to Lincoln, NE, so I have my first experience of living outside of Iowa which I can remember. l lived in Lincoln for the next three years during which I got married, had my first son, and changed jobs. While living in Lincoln, I decided to go back to school so that I could change careers. My family and I moved which meant we left Nebraska and returned to Iowa, this time to Dubuque. I received my Master’s degree after three years and time for another move. As fate would have it, this move landed me back in Nebraska but this time in the central part of the state. Nebraska was home for another three years before another move would take me to central Iowa but this time to the south. There I would stay for over fourteen years. I then decided to make some significant changes in life which included leaving my current career and location. But, I did not leave Iowa. This time I moved to eastern Iowa where I would stay until recently.

This brings you up to what this blog post is entitled, “A New Step.” The new step actually has led me to return to the place where I was born – Texas. With my new husband, I moved to Fort Worth so that he could accept a new position at one of the educational institutions. This new step has been filled with some trepidation, some worry, but also a feeling of a new adventure. I am learning a whole new part of the country. I have a new city to explore. I also have an opportunity to redefine myself and my life goals.

Over the next couple of days and weeks, I will be posting about this new step and the new