So good.

(6/25) The move went relatively well, all things considered. Even though U-Haul put a major kink in my original plans by not having a truck for me until 3:30pm, but my moving-force was up for the challenge. Can I just say Thank Heavens for the SCA! The five people who comprised my volunteer moving force were all new friends/acquaintances that I’d made just in the last few months. I cannot say enough about the karma or fate that set up this support system, but I was really touched that near-strangers would be so willing to help me. It took us about an hour and a half to load the U-Haul, trucks and cars; maybe 20 minutes to unload the bulk of it once we got to the apartment. The rain tried to intrude but the bottom didn’t drop out until we were all inside waiting on the pizza to arrive. I stayed at Mom’s one final night.

(6/26) I just couldn’t sleep in on Sunday; the image of the towers of boxes waiting in my new apartment would not leave my mind, so I was up and gone before 10am. Mom called my cell-phone at about half-past wondering where I was. Having tackled most of the kitchen boxes and rearranged the ones in the bedroom I headed back over to Mom’s around noon to meet Jason (who was going to move my mattress and box-spring for me). Back at the apartment, more boxes emptied and flattened, at 4 o’clock I reached my limit and went back to Mom’s. Watched an old movie, ate dinner, and gathered my clothes and laptop. The offer was made for me to stay on the couch that night, but I knew I had to leave at some point. The second I closed Mom’s door I started to cry (hey, I admit it, I can be a wuss sometimes) and that lasted pretty much the entire drive (all five minutes). Once I got the suitcases inside I called it a night. I took a shower, had a beer, and watched something on TV (NBC to be exact, since I got exactly two and a half channels on my little 13″ tv).

(6/27) Monday I had the day off from work and started in pretty early unpacking more boxes. I was bringing Abigail home later and I needed things to be somewhat organized enough to keep her out of trouble. Just as I was about to call V to see when it would be safe for me the go over there, he called for the same reason. Having already said his good-byes to Abigail that morning, he agreed not to go home during lunch so I could go over around that time. Mostly what I needed to get from V’s was food. I had a fair amount of dry and freezer goods still over there and I really needed to NOT start from absolute scratch. Anything I knew thatV wouldn’t eat or take the time to fix I claimed as mine. Between that and the dog and her things we filled my poor little car to the very brim, then we were off. I left the keys and some cash (for the digital camera, sofa, and dresser I bought from him) by the coffee pot and was officially gone.

Abbie was a but skitish at the new place, but she recognized the sofa and stayed pretty much put while I put away the groceries. Then we both went and took a nap for a bit before I went to dance practice (deparately needed the human contact and to get AWAY from the boxes).

There, that about covers the first weekend in the new place. Some interesting things I realized, those little bits of unrealized freedoms, included that I could put whatever I wanted in the medicine cabinet: it was ALL MINE. It was a strange feeling.