A move like this had many components: some exciting, some stressful:
- Trying to remember all of the small details was a pain in the ass. Did I forget to cancel this? Did I remember to change my address for that? What time on Saturday are we going to be able to move it? What do you mean I didn't bring all of the cable equipment back that I was supposed to? There was just so much going on, and trying to manage it all was a hassle.
- Luckily, I had a great group of people helping us move out of the South Loop and another great group helping us move into our Logan Square abode. So much had to get packed, wedged, unscrewed, (random verb)ed...you name the verb, it was probably done in the moving process. These groups of people were the main reason I was able to keep it together throughout the three day process.
- Speaking of the moving truck (ok, I'll just bring it up), I was terrified to drive that behemoth. The previous biggest vehicle that I've ever drove was one of my parent's mini-vans back when I was 18 or so. This was no mini-van, but rather a 17 foot truck, packed upwards, across and side-to-side with expensive furniture, clothes, books, electronics & other random stuff. If you've ever drove one of these trucks for moving, you may have had the same apprehension that I did. For me, I'm not sure if the toughest thing about driving it was (1) being stressed from the move and not being completely focused and ready to drive the vehicle, (2) never having ever drove a vehicle of that size, (3) the on-and-off rain bursts that occurred, fittingly enough between the hours of 4-5:30pm, (4) not fully trusting myself to read the side mirrors correctly and constantly wanting to look through a rear-view mirror that does not exist or (5) driving through rush hour. After I got done with driving this back to my parents, I just wanted to pass the hell out.
- Once we moved in, what was there to do for six days without cable and internet? Most of this time between Saturday evening and today, I was occupied with stuff outside of the apartment, so I didn't worry about this problem as much as I could have. Night 1 without the web led me to look at old newspaper articles of newspapers that I saved from famous events in my lifetime (i.e. death of Michael Jackson; night 2 was spent at a Chicago bar with my friend Angie and then passing out with Jen much earlier than I normally would go to bed; night 3 was spent in part listening to Game 7 of the Heat/Pacers on my new radio app (how I imagine people in the 20s listening to the radio...on their apps); night 4 was watching Entourage on DVD for the first time in a long time with Jen; night 5 was bowling in the burbs...and on the 6th day, He gave us cable.
A couple of my bowling teammates wondered what I did without cable/Internet at our place for 5 days. Makes you wonder what the next wave of technology will be consuming our lives so much in the next 10-20 years that will make future generations of people who move wonder "how was I able to live without this for almost a week?" Internet and cable have become as common to most first-world citizens as breathing and heart disease. - Now - the buying of new stuff. What gets added to the list of stuff we need? Charcoal grill, check. New TV for the bedroom, check. New computer desk for my currently chaotic office, check. Patience is key for both me and Jen as we strive to satisfy all of our material needs to be met as soon as possible but realizing that certain things (like the TV) could probably wait a little bit.
These are just a few of the nuggets that came from the moving process. It was a lot more stressful for some reason this time around, but the added stress gave way to more satisfaction in the moving-in process than last year did.
Have you moved recently? I'd love to hear how you handled the stressors that came with the move - or if you were able to avoid stress in the process altogether.
