Friday, April 19, 2013

House to apartment...not for the faint of heart.


It's been three weeks since our big downsize and move to an apartment.  I feel it's time to share some thoughts on the whole process, because, while it's been exciting and fun to nest in a new place, it's also been very stressful. Sometimes life throws a curve ball...

The first night here, I'm not sure if any of us slept well.  We worried about all the little things...I would find myself walking the dog in the courtyard at two in the morning and thinking how in the world would we keep a dog here?  How will I get up in the middle of the night and get dressed to take her outside when she and we are all accustomed to a doggie door?  And how will she make it in an apartment all day while we are at work?  It's funny how you can take the smallest things like dog potty breaks and make them into giant reasons why the whole situation won't work.  Really, though, it will.  You just can't see that right now.

The Sunday after our move we took Katie back to the house with us to make a trip or two of small things.  You know, the small things will kill you when you  move.  Anyway, she was sifting through the clutter that was still there, and finally sat down on the floor in our bedroom and cried.  I lost it.  I was fine until she wasn't.  She woke up that morning telling us she missed our old house and that she "almost had tears falling down."  How do you even respond to that?  It's quite the adjustment for the little ones, but how resilient they are.  I started wondering if we really would make it, changing our lifestyle so drastically in such a short amount of time, and giving away all of the things that we so carefully chose and collected and admired quite frequently.  Easter Sunday was quite an emotional one.

We got to our family dinner that day with Katie and I on the verge of tears and sometimes they did fall down.  My mother-in-law gave us a card that day that read, "The barn burned down; I can see the moon."  The barn did burn.  And how fitting that we can see life ahead of us.  Even though it is a loss, it's a new beginning, a new vision, and a new adventure to wander through.  The clutter was causing stress, the money we spent could have been used otherwise, and it's like this is the one time we woke up and we got it.  We figured it out.  We have goals and know how to reach them.  We have problems we know how to solve.  We have a new sense of what is to come and how it's all going to come together for all of us...all five of us.

We really don't miss much of our "stuff" we left behind.  I've thoroughly enjoyed not picking up a bunch of clutter when I get home and then an hour later being able to sit and hear myself think.  No, I don't miss that one bit.  I thought that we had left some things behind that we needed, namely a muffin tin...haha...but it turns out I just hadn't figured out where I had put everything when we moved in.  We did have one casualty.  William and I wanted to go use the workout room at the apartments, and, lo and behold, we had sold his running shoes in the sale!  We got a laugh out of that one.  Off to Luke's Locker we go for a new pair.

Present day, we do like it here.  We like our neighbors and we like having time to enjoy the little things, including our little place.  It doesn't take long to rearrange the furniture in 900 square feet.  Just ask me, I know.  I like cooking in my tiny kitchen and three of us sitting around our small coffee table eating dinner.  I like my cozy craft corner and I love my book case in the hall, full of the books that we kept and still enjoy.  (Books are therapy, aren't they?)  Katie has her things all arranged in her tiny room just the way she likes them.  She plays dress up in the closet again and tonight she's running around with an arm load of stuffed animals, and she's wearing her sock monkey hat and her nightgown.

Things are back to normal.  Oh, and the walks in the courtyard aren't so bad at two in  the morning, although a potty schedule for the dog would be nice.  She's found friends, too.  William is doing just as well...he's snoring beside me as I type.  Katie is peeling the candy shell off of Cadbury mini eggs and eating it, piece by piece.  All is calm.  All is bright.

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