The Joys of Packing and Unpacking

Slime is no longer a thing, right? I had this thought no less than half a dozen times as I packed up nine years worth of memories from our old house. The countless number of salsa jars that were repurposed for gooey concoctions is equal parts impressive and downright disgusting. Only a handful of slimes made it to our new residence and even the realization that I actually, willingly taped up a cardboard box and labeled it SLIME makes me shudder.

But, I did that and more. I packaged up old cleaning rags, bundled together multiple junk drawers of broken pencils, and even bubble wrapped my wedding china that has never seen the light outside of a basement storage window. Packing and unpacking is brutal work. Yet, in between the chaos and the confusion of moving I was able to look back and find parts of myself that I never want to forget.

High School

I know lots of people have a love-hate relationship with high school. For me, it is a cherished era of my more youthful self.  While there were moments of disdain, I was definitely in “like” with the majority of my ninth through twelfth grade years. During the packing process, I found my after prom souvenirs. One was a martini glass and the other was a wine goblet. My youngest daughter helped me unwrap and then re-wrap them in discarded newspaper as they were deemed acceptable to move to the new house. 

Her facial expression of cocked eyebrows and a wrinkled nose had me giggling as she asked, “They gave you alcohol cups in high school?”. I laughed, nodded, and then explained I went to a “small school” in hopes that was justification enough. Her dad’s prom glass was a beer stein, so obviously the late 1990’s has some explaining to do.  

Old Paperwork

Hard copies are pretty much a thing of the past with our paperless world. Yet, I own an old file cabinet and it has housed so many records. I found medical receipts, health histories, my college transcript, tax reports, and past warranties on a water heater to a house we sold sixteen years ago. 

It is insane that I moved that paperwork three times, only to finally put it through the shredder this past week. It is also a little fun. The water heater warranty made me remember the first house I bought with my spouse. A tiny ranch, when it was just us living hours away from family and friends. We got our first dog in that house. The hot water heater also quit working on us and we had to take cold showers for three days. Come to find out, the hot water heater was fine and we had forgotten to sign up with the local gas company for service. I take back every bad thing I have said about millennials, because I too have been young and dumb.

So Many Photos

I grew up in a picture taking family and have decades worth of printed images. The moving process led to finding old photo albums and envelopes of pictures that I always meant to do something with and just never got around to it. Unpacking my office for writing took twice as long as any other room. This is because it had all of the photo boxes. I cannot resist flipping through past images and remembering all of the things that I ever deemed photo worthy. I had so many pictures of when my oldest was my only that my heart swelled and my eyes leaked because now that kid is almost a teenager.

Wedding pictures are the bomb and being a bridesmaid could be a line on my resume. I want to hold on to every photo from every wedding I was ever a part of, as those nights were fantastic. I was once a pregnant bridesmaid in Kentucky during a blizzard. The bride actually got calls from vendors, while getting her hair done, asking if the celebration would be canceled due to snow. So many parts of that day could have been disastrous, yet it was amazing. I still remember the sweet groomsmen surprising me with sparkling grape juice because I was preggers, and I had to secretly pass the bottle to the maid of honor to shot-gun because my gestational diabetic self could not handle the sugar content. 

As much as I love remembering past weddings, for me the college photos are even better because those days were epic. I also give daily prayers of thanks that there was no social media. Instagram documentation of the downtown bar crawls or late night pizza parties in my dorm would be cringe worthy. I had independence with the safety net of parental insurance. Plus unlimited use of the washer and dryer during holiday breaks. The version of myself that was focused on fun and chasing a career is captured in old college photos. And is still with me today. It just gets a bit buried in the duties of motherhood. 

Fond Farewell

Leaving a house where I brought my two baby boys home was not easy. It was a place that held thousands of wonderful moments. I was worried there would be regret as my family started to settle into our new digs. However, even though packing and unpacking can be a painful chore it also reminded me that your life (slime and all) goes with you, no matter your address.