SOME THOUGHTS ON MOVING.....

I took last week off from blogging to spend quality time with family members.It wasn't all fun and games, but certainly not all work (we didn't paint the house or re-landscape the yard).

The first four or five days were devoted to (a) locating a pod for moving belongings from Indiana to my daughter's home in Arizona; (b) discovering the extent and location of said belongings (some in a storage unit; some in my attic; more in one of my closets; some stored in Ohio that came with the Ohio daughter's visit); (c) purchasing heavy-duty moving boxes, bubble wrap, heavy-duty tape for the boxes; and (d) locating important stuff like Sharpies, fresh iced tea, gluten-free pretzels, and DVDs to keep our spirits up while one of us (not I) wrapped or re-wrapped small fragile items in bubble wrap and labeled them before stowing them in one of the aforesaid heavy-duty packing boxes.

The wrapping and boxing up was the province of the Arizona daughter whose belongings were in the process of moving from here to there. Minnesota daughter came along, she told us, to provide muscle--this was greatly appreciated by her sister and me.

My main contribution was to keep the food wagon operating. But deep down, it was all about taking the physical and emotional temperature of those working--were they too tired to eat? Were they famished to the point of fainting? Was there any point in making a full meal, when a small snack was what they wanted? These discernments are within my realm, and meals/snacks of various sorts appeared at appropriate times.

-----
By the end of the week, Friday, the pod was not only packed to the gills, it was ready to  be picked up by the freight company. They did their part, the pod left for the great Southwest, and we all breathed a small sigh of relief.

After a few hours rest, we geared up for the next day's visit by some of the rest of the family. The current total head count is 23, plus miscellaneous cats and dogs. Saturday we had only 13 human beings, 1 friend of a family, plus 2 dogs. That filled the back yard nicely. Enough kids to keep us from feeling like old folks. Well-behaved dogs who made me start thinking about getting another canine friend. Adults who enjoy each other's company. And a beautiful (almost chilly) late summer/early autumn kind of day.

The kids played badminton, and managed to get a Frisbee up on the roof. The youngest great-granddaughter wrote love letters on the patio with chalk (and left me one on paper, taped to my kitchen cupboard).

We finished a slow cooker of homemade chili with saltines on the side, fresh garden produce from two kids' gardens, a variety of chips with or without salsa, and two kinds of brownies (regular and gluten-free). Coffee was available, bottled water, iced tea. We used paper plates and bowls and disposable napkins and spoons. My kind of party!

-----
The next day, Sunday, I played the service at my church, then sped home to have lunch with Arizona and Minnesota before they hit the Toll Road for a 10-hour return trip to Minneapolis.

When I got up from my afternoon nap, the house felt empty. Thanks be that we have memories!

-----
I haven't said much about moving, have I?--the thought of packing up a house full of belongings and memories isn't appealing right at the moment. Helping someone else works out quite well, though--we got to watch Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movies together, and later some DVDs from a mystery series I bought in the late 1990s. I got to cook larger meals (cooking for myself isn't always a lot of fun) and sit down to talk with people I'm related to without a telephone between us. 

Everyone from out of town--which was everyone who came to the Saturday family gathering--got home safely.

And I am grateful for the many descendants who are related to me, one way or another. Not bad for an only child.

Arizona Sunset