Momentum Shift

Lughnasa                                                                    College Moon

We’ve decided what the second (and probably last) SortTossPack day will entail. They will move out all the red boxes and sell them at Halfprice Books. They will pack fragile and clumsy items. They will remove at least two desks, one file cabinet, three bookcases, and a small chest of drawers.

We have about a week and a half before they come. Most of our pack ahead work will be done by then, leaving only items we’ll pack just before the move. That means October will be the month to call moving companies and get bids.

Momentum has shifted. Now we’re thinking about leaving. Kate will probably start to look in earnest, as I think I said here before, sometime around Hanukkah. Whatever we do we want to move before we put the house on the market. That will make matters much easier and eliminate storage and kennel costs.

Having this large project underway since late April has had an interesting effect on me. It has given me a clear way to prioritize time and energy which has reduced my anxiety overall. Makes me wonder what I can find to take its place. Of course, there will be a year or so of settling in to the new place, so the question won’t arise until late 2015, early 2o16. Plenty of time to decide on something.

Another Layer

Lughnasa                                                                      College Moon

mod2011 05 06_0874Files and notebooks. Old magazines, posters, prints, objet d’arts, paintings, novel notes and manuscripts, office supplies. Perhaps more books as I admit I can let go of some of the ones I saved back and some of the books on my study bookcase. Not let go as in red tape, outta here, sayonara, but let go as in green tape box and inaccessible until the move is over.

This sorting is even more intimate and difficult than the books. Do I really need all those essays on the humanities I’ve saved over the years? Well, of course. Do I need this one on quantum mechanics? Maybe not. How about the files on the Great Wheel? Definitely. And what of the art do I love and which do I merely like? The likes go. The loves stay with me.

Those stone sculptures I bought at Artisans D’Angkor in Siem Reap? Stay. The Shiva Nataraja I bought in Boulder? Stay. The Open sign we bought at the going out of business Mod2011 05 06_0876sale at Lights on Broadway? Stay. O.K. This might be hard, too.

This is getting ready for SortTossPack who will come again on September 26th, a week from this Friday. We plan to have them pack the fragile stuff, some of the art, carry some boxes, take some furniture back to the consignment shop. It’s also, of course, getting ready for the actual move. Soon now we’ll need to contact moving companies, get bids. Wow.

 

 

Lughnasa                                                                    College Moon

The College Moon reminds me that all of those stunned freshmen I saw at the University of Minnesota over Labor Day are now deep in the throes of their first semester. The student in me-and he is strong-envies them, the newness of it all. The library for quiet study. The smell of a book, paper glue and ink. Even the confusion. Confusion is the sweat of the mind, I read recently. The adult in me does not envy their angst, the worry about career, debt, love, success, about worth.