Moving Sucks (Redux)

This week I am in the midst of a move, and I won't have regular internet access again until Wednesday. Lest I encounter any angry comments about my lack of posting, I thought I'd give you something to chew on whilst I'm finding a place to put all my stuff. (That's right, I used "lest" and "whilst" in the same sentence. I like those words. They're fun. You should use them more. In fact, if you're balking at what I've done, deep inside you're just jealous.) ;)

(As a sidebar, I have several decent ideas for posts, so when I have some time there should be some regular posting in the near future.)

Since I'm moving for the second time in three months, I've had a fair amount of thoughts on it. My last post on moving was straight to the point, and dead on. But I have an addendum now:

Moving sucks less if you have a kick-ass boyfriend to help you out (or, really any good friend/significant other/assistant/personal slave; but I wanted to give a HUGE shout-out to Jay, since he singlehandedly saved my life this week). Now, everyone has a different packing style. I'm a sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow packer. I kind of make a big mess and then organize it and then pack it all up. I sit around and moan about how much I hate packing, then after 3 hours (the length of a really bad movie I've seen 100 times on TV, which I watch as an excuse - any excuse - not to have to pack), I pull out a whole bunch of stuff and throw it haphazardly in boxes. Next I spend some time moaning about how much I hate packing, watch some more bad TV, then get motivated and take everything out of the boxes, make a big pile, organize it into little piles, and then put the organized piles into boxes. And it all turns out OK in the end, but it takes forever.

This week I didn't have forever. I had a few short hours to pack, and a few short hours to move it all. Jay came over, though, and while I was in the midst of my second round of griping about how much I hate moving (we substituted the Red Sox game for the really bad movie) and throwing things haphazardly into boxes...he stopped me, asked what needed to be packed, and suddenly a whilrwind ran through my room and almost everything was packed. Then he started carrying all the heavy stuff down while I did easy packing like clothes and stuff. And he stuffed our cars full and the next day he helped me unload all of it after we both had been at work. So moving hasn't really sucked all that much this time.

It actually reminds me of the time I was packing to go to my freshman year at William and Mary and Emily came over and thinned out my wardrobe by half so I could fit everything in the suitcase. She was right, too....I hadn't worn half the stuff I had originally packed in years, and I didn't miss it when I didn't pack it.

Which leads me to the second train of thought I've had in the past week (and I have every time I move): how much stuff do I *really* need? Because I knew I would be moving three months after I moved up to Salem in May, I packed a whole bunch of stuff I thought I could live without for three months and kept it stored in the basement. As I loaded all that stuff up in my car, I wondered - if I lived without it for the whole summer, do I really need it? Now, some of it is winter clothes, and living in Boston, I NEED it. But the other stuff...well.... And then there's the stuff I had packed up from Florida that I left at my parents' house in Virginia when I came to Boston (no room in the dorm room for all my stuff when I moved up here)...that's going to be coming up to Boston too, and I wonder how much I really need all that, since I've been living without it for two years.

The point is, my final stage of packing is the point when I'm almost done, when almost everything is packed and moved, and I'm sick of the whole mess. I reach a point where I start evaluating my life in a more existential/zen/minimalist view and throwing out things willy-nilly because I think to myself, "Self, how much stuff do you *really* need?"

I have to say, I'm dying to know what I've been living without these past months and years. I'm sure some of it will return to good use in my daily life, and some of it will be donated to goodwill, and some of it will sit, stored, until I move again, and re-assess my need for it.

In the meantime, I'm really thankful for all the things I have. And the best thing I have, I think, is good friends and family who support me...and who help me with my deficiencies (especially those that fall under the "moving/packing" category). And in the end, that's *really* all I need.