Moving Day

I've been noticeably absent from my blog and I've missed it.  But I have a good excuse, a really good excuse.  We moved.  And not just down the street or across town, not even intrastate.  This was a real honest to goodness, pack up all our worldly possessions, load up an 18 wheeler and have our accumulated stuff hauled 800 miles (from Georgia to Texas). 


From here

to here 

And who knew that all the things in our home consisted of some really good stuff collected over 12+ years settled in one spot, but also a lot of odds and ends and clutter acquired over the years?  Even now as we begin the unpacking process, this notion is crystallizing in my mind.  How many [insert the inane item of your choice here] does one family need, after all?  In fact, I don't doubt that there is some law of physics that says the stuff you own expands to occupy the space you have.  


Keep in mind, that I am no moving novice, having moved 8 times as a child, 6 times in my married life plus a few additions for apartment/dorm room changes in college. All total, I figure my relocation undertakings require almost two hands to count.  My husband's history is remarkably similar and nomadic.  So I'm shocked and a bit embarrassed to admit how many plastic food storage containers, Halloween decorations, board games, etc., etc., we own.  I thought I (we) would have known better.  


So, while on moving day (July 10, 2011), it looked like this

by July 13th, it looked like this 

and I'm cautiously optimistic every day will be a little bit better (and, hopefully, we'll own a little less stuff).


Don't get me wrong, this post isn't celebrating Moving Day - (which is turning into moving month) - 'cause it really is no fun, but it is a time of special significance particularly to our kids who only remember one home and I thought that it deserved a post of its own.