Tomorrow, I will puzzle out the best approach to daily walking; today I will write a blog post about the last several days, and then I'll get ready to go to the 8:45 bluegrass service at the local Lutheran church. Yesterday, before the internet installation happened, I sat on the back deck watching the light change as the sun rose, and the light made its way across the mountains.
Of course, I can't actually see the mountains from my deck, but I know that they are there. I can't see them because of the trees, but I get a sense of the view we will have when the trees drop their leaves. By then, my primary residence will be student housing at Wesley Theological Seminary.
Before we get too far away from moving day, let me write a blog post about that. It went very smoothly, which was more of a relief than I have words to express. The moving team showed up right at 9 and went right to work wrapping all of our furniture in blankets and packing tape. They were done by 11:30, and then there was paperwork to sign. We did a quick cleaning of all the places we couldn't clean when the moving team was there, and then we went to the car, which was already packed.
It was almost anticlimactic. It felt like there should be some sort of closing ceremony. Instead, we drove 10 hours north. Back when we thought there was a chance that the moving van would be at our new house the next day, we wanted to be close.
I usually make a long drive by getting up very early in the morning to get ahead of traffic. It was very strange to get on the road by 12:30 p.m. We had a surprisingly easy trip to our grad school friend's house in Columbia. I felt a subdued euphoria as I felt my worries about the logistics of moving out of a condo evaporate.
The next day, we had a leisurely breakfast after I called the moving company just to make sure there wasn't a chance that the moving van was already in Arden, North Carolina wondering where we were. My spouse did the kind of toilet repair that's simple if you know how to do it, but mystifying/terrifying if you don't--much more useful to our grad school friend than taking her out for a meal to say thank you for her hospitality. Since I didn't know for sure when we'd have internet connectivity in our new house, I got some grading done while they did the toilet repair.
We headed to Arden after an early lunch. We got the car unloaded and did some organizing. Our grad school friend loaned us an air mattress, but we needed a place to sit. After an early dinner at a local brewery, 12 Bones, we got two durable lawn chairs and some groceries. We sat out on the back deck watching the sun set.
We continued to sit on the back deck, sipping wine and listening to all the insects sing in the dark. We saw the occasional firefly.
Saturday morning, my spouse slept, and I returned to the deck to watch the light change as the sun rose. I drank coffee, ate granola bars, and read Melissa Studdard's Dear Search Committee--what an engaging and delightful book of poems. It was a great way to start the day.
The internet tech showed up right on schedule at 10 a.m., and the installation went smoothly. I had worried about it a bit--this house was built in the mid 70's, and it hasn't been wired for anything, not even a landline phone. But by noon, we had internet, and even better, both laptops can access it. Yesterday we allowed ourselves a slower day, with grocery shopping and watching The Big Year, the birding movie with the great cast. We saw it when it first was available on Netflix, but that was several houses ago (meaning at least 2012 or earlier), so it felt new.
I am fascinated watching my brain work, going from anxiety to anxiety. I don't think I need medication, although I have wondered. I have a variety of self-soothing techniques that I've picked up from years of worry. These past few days will be part of those techniques, as I remind myself how often I worry about things that end up going smoothly.
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