life in a box

I filled in one of those personality tests recently and one of the questions was about déjà vu and whether I find history repeating itself often..how foreshadowy.

Here we are, again, at the beginning of December, packing our worldly possessions onto bite sized pieces. Or, feasibly carrying sized boxes. It turns out that on a pleasant Sunday, as one sips coffee and contemplates life - or watches The Muppets, whatevs - one can be booted from one's comfort zone when a stranger pulls up out front and pounds a SOLD sign into the frozen earth of the front yard. That is the current sitch.

The house we were renting sold. We were given a month's notice once we tracked down the landlord to ask if there was something we should know. Unfortunately that month is December, a month packed full of travel and, y'know, Christmas. Soooo, back to the land of boxes and tape.

Thanks to a friend's connections, we were very fortunate in finding a new place to rent quickly - not everyone will rent to people with multiple pets. Very few would rent to us if they saw Abbey in all her boisterous glory. The owners of the new place, however, are animal people and had cats and dogs themselves. There's even a fenced in dog yard surrounding the back door.

So, where will we live, you ask [let's pretend you were curious]?! Well, we are moving to the even teenier town of New Denmark. Population somewhere between 400 and 1100, depending on your source.

We have started moving ourselves, one truckload at a time, and have made a lot of progress. I am happy to report that we'll have help with the rest of the large items. We moved two mattresses ourselves and learned that 90 year old houses can be tricky. For example, the stairwells are at supernatural angles that can make mattresses expand to triple their width and weight somehow. Fascinating, really.

It is a cute house and I look forward to making it home in the upcoming weeks, but boy what I'd give for a time machine right now. Or a magic wand. Where's Samantha's nose when you need it?

The distance from town will mean that I won't get to see my darling wife every day at noon. But rather than focus on the few dark clouds, here are a few of the highlights: there are miles and miles of snowshoeing trails. We won't have random dingdong dashing because we only have one neighbour. It's waaay easier to eat better when you have a decent drive to get to a store. The dog is going to be blissed out with her huge playground out back (read: someone's snowy potato fields).

One of the tough parts of a sudden move is my opportunistic friend, MS. I don't have the option of sitting back and relaxing, so I have been a little more symptomatic than usual. I have the strangest, grossest sensation of constantly feeling like there's a hair on my tongue at the back of my throat, even though there's nothing there. Ick doesn't begin to describe that. To make life slightly comical, my upper lip feels like it's bouncy. When I talk, there's a very noticeable vibration in my top lip as my lips meet. Bizarro. And, loathe not to live up to the blog name, my feet feel like someone else's again. Numb soles. That sounds more emo than intended.

I am taking care of myself. Trying to get to bed early. Meditating. I took a few days off of packing to be with Nance while she's on the road for work. Forced stoppage. It feels impractical not to be home packing but this is the smarter move. Today, rather than wrap dishes or bag shoes, I grabbed a fancy coffee, bought a new hat and brought Wonder Dog to a park. It was a stunningly beautiful time. Sunshine, snow, happy dog. Big smiles.

xo