Boxes everywhere we look

Furniture and box after box of our household goods were delivered today!

The moving company packed up our stuff in Vermont on July 23rd. 22 days later everything was delivered to our house in Arizona. We spent two nights in a hotel in Vermont, 8 days in hotels on the road on the motorcycle, one last night in a hotel in Prescott, AZ and then the last 10 days in our house with only a mattress and a stability ball chair. Today our open, minimalist house is packed high with boxes that seem to multiply like the rabbits that run around our yard. As fast as I empty out one box of dishes and glasses, another appears full of pots and pans.

In just a few hours we've gone from eating cereal out of paper bowls and using a plastic spoon while sitting on the floor to enjoying a grilled steak, baked potato, and fresh fruit sitting outside on the deck in real chairs, at an actual table, using dishes and silverware that need to be washed. Instead of rotating one pair of shorts and a pair of running shorts, I have piles of clothing in my closet. Every cupboard and drawer in the kitchen is full, my office desk is set up and books are on the shelves, and we now have full-size bottles of shampoo and toothpaste instead of the travel size.

Three weeks with basically no furniture and only two changes of clothing brings a refreshing perspective:  do we really need a bunch of stuff? I was thrilled that my grandmother's fragile and much glued-together china tea cups arrived unharmed. We set up photos of family on the shelves in the living room, and as I unpacked my boxes of letters, cards and drawings from the boys that I've collected over the years, I paused to read one or two.

Our empty house felt like home because we were living in it together. Now our house overflowing with boxes feels even more like home because of the famliar and cherished items that surround us.

Tomorrow is our 32nd wedding anniversary. We started married life in a small, furnished apartment in Augsburg, Germany and we're entering our 33rd year of marriage in sunny and friendly Prescott, AZ. May the adventures keep coming!

Waiting for furniture is like the last days of pregnancy

As I was sitting in our empty living room - empty except for the two $15.00 hard plastic outdoor chairs we purchased yesterday at Home Depot - a thought came to me. The last 10 days of living in our empty house, waiting for our furniture and household goods to be delivered, is a lot like the last few days of being pregnant.

We call the moving company to find out an estimated day that our stuff would be loaded on a moving van. That's a lot like the weekly doctor's appointment, where I hopefully asked when the baby might be born. At this point, there's no definite answer except for:  soon.

We putter around the house, taking care of some repairs:  retouching paint, installing a new outdoor faucet, changing a light bulb. That's a lot like putting up the crib and getting out the baby blankets. They aren't essential items, but they keep us busy.

We watch movies on TV that we've seen several times before. We don't feel like going out and are simply looking for something mindlessly entertaining to occupy our time. I think we watched some of those same movies waiting for labor pains to finally begin.

Friends email:  any news yet on the furniture? Neighbors act surprised that we've been here 10 days without furniture. I had those same types of questions in the last days of pregnancy:  what, you're still pregnant?

Finally, the moving company calls and tells us the delivery date. That's a lot like going into labor:  I know this baby is really going to be born!

We've gotten used to living in a house with only a mattress and now 2 chairs, using plastic silverware and paperplates, and standing up to eat our meals. We're in a holding pattern, filling our days with simple tasks and going to bed early.

Guess what? The furniture is being delivered on Wednesday!