I am not sure how it happened that we are one week out from the move and I am not prepared. All these months of planning and getting ready and I am just…not.
It’s all going to be fine. Really, it is. We will get there. Moves always are a pandemonium.
I had a plan. Take it slow. Go room by room and move things a carload at a time. Start on my own and then use a week of Tod’s vacation to get the rest done together. I was maybe a bit too slow but I was making progress every day.
However, now I have two post-operative cats in Elizabeth collars. They cannot be left alone for long before they attempt an escape by destroying things in their path. Every time I leave a room, they follow me hoping to get outside. When I don’t leave a room, they wail loudly at me to let them out.
You can imagine how that puts a crimp in my plan of many small trips to 555. It is basically impossible to load the car.
So, we pivoted. No more small trips. Now, only decluttering, sorting and packing. The cats and I together in one space. Everyone’s unhappy but we’ll get through it.
The Monaka guys are coming with the big truck on Thursday or Friday next week. They will take all the furniture and boxes, too. I will try to get the cats in their carriers that morning; we will load to the sound of their wailing and then everyone moves.
A handful of friends are coming to help tomorrow: Toshiko, Will, Hitomi, and Megumi. Naomi has given me piles of boxes. I have a plan for everyone. Tod has two collections to work on and he’s in charge of meals. The rest of us are going to pack the kitchen, sort the garage into easy to understand piles (move, dump, burn), and maybe even get a few small loads up to the house if we can keep the cats out of the way.
I should stop writing and start working while the cats are having a quiet moment. Guests in T-12 hours and there’s nowhere for them to sleep.
Wait…Maura, what was that noise?! Ah, the agent of chaos is trying to escape through the closed window in the office kitchen. No, no, no.
