I’m thankful that I haven’t had to move much in my life. I helped my cousin and his family pack for their move a little today and it’s a lot of work!
I remember vaguely moving to North Dakota in the middle of January when I was five years old. I didn’t have to do any of the packing but I can still remember how cramped the car was (I remember one of our bigger plants on the floor of the front seat). The weather was terrible and at times seeing the moving truck ahead of us was difficult.
The next move I experienced was going to college. I packed my life at that point into every open space of my car and relied on my parents to help with the rest. Just when I swore I’d never go through the process of moving again I packed it all back up to move to a new place about a year later. After finishing college I took a job back “home”, so again I packed up my belongings and made the move back. In less than three years I had moved three times. I was ready to settle down.
Looking back, those moves were easy. The thought of moving now is a lot more stressful. Fourteen years ago I moved into our current home as an engaged bachelor with a lot of the same possessions I had in college: a bed, a desk, a lamp, some mismatched flatware, and some basic kitchen utensils. The house seemed huge then but that was two kids and a wedding ago. Needless to say we’ve acquired just a few things in that amount of time – all of which I don’t wish to move anytime soon.