Joy in the Journey – Day 7

One week ago today, I signed the papers, and we headed for Georgia and my new home. The adventure continues, but though I am jumping ahead, I am pleased that I am writing this at home, not at Einstein’s Bagels, though this will not be a total desertion of Einstein’s.

The unpacking is like a treasure hunt and Christmas rolled into one. Putting it away is another story. The treasures are multiplying while the space seems to disappear. I have decided bins and baskets will be my new mantra, with the addition of some stackable drawers or something. The kitchen has lots of counter space, but not much more storage space than my old kitchen and especially lacks drawers. If I were making my own kitchen plans, I think I would opt for fewer cupboards and more drawers. At this point, you would find it challenging to figure out where the counter is, but the situation is temporary, I hope.

The good news is that little damage or breakage occurred in loading, unloading and transit. One vase and a bowl did not make the journey intact. By the time I found them, however, that was not necessarily a bad thing. “One less thing that needs to find a home.”  While the dear friends packing the truck were finishing, I asked a couple of young men if they would haul up the chairs that were to be left in the basement so that I would have seating for the last few days. They dutifully trudged downstairs and bounded up quickly to announce there were no chairs. Oops. The chairs were on the truck, well buried, and made the trip to Georgia. The blessing is that they are providing a place to sit here while I wait to get furniture that I really want. Another blessing in disguise included finding the an old set of dishes that I was trying to sell online. When they didn’t sell, I promised them to a friend, but when I went to retrieve them for her, the bin had disappeared. Assuming I had taken them to WIC in my sleep, I emailed that they were gone. Yesterday, Beth said, “There’s Iva’s dishes.” Yes, they got loaded on the truck, and long story short, Beth decided she did want them after all. Sorry, Deb.

The task is daunting, but I have removed many boxes and have 14 empty bins, so progress is occurring. All the Christmas bins fit in the storage area on the porch and more bins will soon fill all the nooks and crannies. The joy in the new adventure continues with starting to look for affordable cars, many of which are almost as old as mine – how does that work? Finding ways to accommodate my stuff to the space includes trips to Goodwill, chucking, and finding creative storage solutions. As I unpack boxes, I think of the friends who helped pack and load them. Some items provide precious memories of the past both recent and long ago. It is in many ways a sweet time.