The day was Thursday, December 27 which meant that moving day had arrived. That phrase carries with it both joy and fear. The joy comes from the reality that we were embarking upon a new adventure. We would have a new home, in a new city, and new opportunities. The fear results from the realization that we were clearly not ready for the movers to arrive. There were rooms which still had a lot of unpacked items. Some drawers and cupboards had been overlooked. How would we ever manage to make this happen?

Much to our great fortune, some of our family came over to help us. They had been there the day before and helped with a lot of the items. Now they returned and made some of those decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of that neither of us wanted to make. The movers arrived and were even a bit early. The house became busy with activity while we tried to corral our two dogs in one room and out of the way of the movers. Everyone continued packing as furniture, boxes, and totes were being labeled and taken out to the truck. On top of this, it had decided to rain a little.

The next seven hours were filled with activity. Every time we thought we were making head way, one of the movers would come and ask us what to do about something they had found. Numerous trips to get more boxes, take some unneeded boxes back, and pick up more packing tape also filled our time. Getting out of the house to run an errand was actually a blessing. There were times that I ended up questioning if I wanted to return to the house or not.

Now, the movers had the truck loaded. My husband spent fifteen minutes signing the paperwork indicating what all had been loaded in the truck. There is something strange about realizing that all your worldly possessions are in the hands of a man and a truck. You will not see them again until whenever the truck arrives in your new location. A little fear enters your mind about if the man and the truck will actually arrive or not.

Even though the movers had left, we were far from being finished for the day. There was still more than enough to finish packing. Certain items a moving company cannot take in the truck. Included among those items are houseplants, alcohol, chemicals, valuables, and perishables. We also knew that it would be at least three days before the truck would arrive and a new crew would unload us. This meant that we had to take enough clothing, bedding, and other necessities for us to live in an empty house until the truck arrived. We also had to begin the cleaning process. For the next five hours, we packed and cleaned.

Around 11:00 pm, we decided that we had to get some sleep. My husband filled the air mattress with air, and we put the sheets we had held out on the mattress. We finally laid down, sore and tired since we only had four hours of sleep the previous night. This would be our final night in this house.