A few weeks ago it finally happened. Stockton and I reached the point of filling a big rental truck with our long-boxed belongings and shuttling them to our new place. Hour after hour we shifted our possessions from one place to another.
Initially, it’s enjoyable. As if I’m walking to the assembly hall in grade school, I’m carrying chairs inside. After so many trips back and forth truck-to-room, room-to-truck, your body shifts into mindless movement. Step, step, step.
Then, there’s a challenge. Considering the supplies available, you find yourselves MacGyver-ing the old wooden icebox with a handcart, some blankets, and sheer willpower end-over-end up the front steps. No big deal. More things make it inside. Then, there’s the moment you’re hauling the hefty couch with Stockton by taking advantage of your posterior pelvic ledge. Nothing to see here, new neighbors, just harnessing the old body’s capabilities, articulating its power. Whew. With all the schlepping the rest of the day, I vaporize my lunch of Royal Farms fried chicken and a cold cherry Coke.
Like a mini version of pandemic fatigue, the moving days exhausted us. Sure, we awoke to stiff muscles, but that was okay. “It’s been a while,” I told Stockton after realizing I wasn’t in pain otherwise. “For the last few days, I feel like I’m really living.”
In a lot of ways 2020 felt like life paused, like we lost time. And somehow it was also endless and kept repeating. In this pandemic, the present is surreal. Is that what it feels like living through a historic moment?
As I unpack objects, I rediscover things I wrapped up in 2019 before I knew how long we would be apart. Seeing familiar stuff comforts me. Beginning a new household means trying combinations of arrangements until it works for us. Is this where we want that? Is this necessary anymore? Do we have the time and space to care for these items here? Maybe. Maybe not. In 2021, every thing is the same, but everything has changed.
In 2021, how are you adapting? What is revitalizing you? Speaking of carrying chairs, did you ever watch the British TV show Teachers with Andrew Lincoln? This spring, are you looking forward to something? Tell me about it.
Adventures in Low Vision 
Congrats sis! Answers come intime
Congrats sis! Answers come in time. Glad to see you post an entry. Enjoy your new home, the last year has been endless for sure. Love, Joey K
Best wishes on the new home. Now that the vaccination is flowing to more people. I’m looking forward to getting back to going outside without the double helping of anxiety. 🙂
Thanks, Casee. So true.
Welcome back to the bloggerverse, was very happy to see a new entry this morning! As someone who prides himself on adaptability I’ve definitely been stretched to new limits this past year. Perhaps most importantly I’ve learned how to balance not putting too much pressure on myself to do everything I feel like I should be able to do while at the same time not letting myself go completely (for more than a day or two at a time). It’s been an adventure for sure.
Thanks for stopping by, Drew. Always appreciate your perspective on things.