Unedifying

I am still here, but my mood is unedifying so I haven’t wanted to write. Over-tired, cranky, more than a little self-pitying. (Ugh!)

We are still not moved. I need to finish emptying the apartment this weekend. I have no energy or motivation.

Of course I will take the dogs and go work on it anyway.

We hosted an all-staff party at the new house last night. Students return tomorrow. Classes start Monday.

After work next week I hope to be able to start unpacking. Next weekend I will tackle the garage.

 

*   *   *

An hour after writing the above, I was backing the truck to the apartment garage, to make it easier for me to load. Unfortunately, somehow instead I smashed into the garage, punching a significant hole in the siding and meanwhile obliterating my right rear light assembly and bending the back bumper so the truck tailgate does not open and close properly. I couldn’t believe it.

This brings home two ideas to me:

a) I am too tired.

b) One should never complain, as matters can always and so quickly and easily be worse.

p.s. I know they could be much worse than damaged siding and a damaged truck… but that was enough for today.

A Break in the Action

The days have rushed by in a hurried blur: sorting, packing, moving, faculty orientation, meeting buyers at the farm, trying to nail down a myriad of family details in the interstices… I forgot that yesterday was Kyle’s 24th birthday. His family is away in Ireland for a wedding. Normally I’d have baked him a cake, but in these harried times, I not only don’t know where my cake pans are, the stove itself is buried under a stack of boxes. So I stuck a candle in his lunchtime Klondike bar.

Kyle has been a boon to my life this summer. During these humid, sweaty, pressured days of moving, he has been indispensable. My gratitude to Kyle (and God) is immense.

I packed until late and am up at 4 AM today to shower and drive Lucy to Maine for college visits. It was something of a comedy last night trying to locate basic items like loafers and underwear in the welter of moving. We will be back around midnight Friday.

I am eager to snap on my seat belt and get started. Though we will be covering a lot of highway miles, it will be a break from mess and decisions, a two-day respite with my girl.

Moving

We are in the thick of moving. This photo was taken Sunday evening when DH, Lucy, and her friend Anabell and I were all having frozen pizza on the new house porch in a cheerful stupor.

I found out Sunday before noon that the move was a go. Kyle and I spent hours cleaning out the spaces at the farm where most of our things will go into storage, and Sunday afternoon I worked with kids to pack a truck and start hauling. Kyle has been my indispensable right hand man. I could not be doing this without him.

I started my school year yesterday so my time for work on the move is now limited. We are a little more than half moved out of our apartment. Tomorrow Lucy and I head to Maine for college visits. I think it will be another week before I have this old apartment bare and clean.

Last night I sold my dear cow Dorrie to a very nice couple about an hour away. They are starting an organic dairy. They do rotational grazing and farm with work horses. I think it’s a perfect home for Dorrie. I was sad to see her go but relieved to find such a great home.

With the big steers and Dorrie gone and so many of the sheep sold (and the rest still down at Betty’s) the barn feels almost empty.

So many changes in my life these days, and such an exhausting pace, it’s a little hard to keep my balance. However I know the changes will be positive in the end.

When I feel too sad I sit with the dogs on the porch and look at the beautiful view.