On packing

Packing takes a lot longer than you anticipate. Especially when you are simultaneously packing all your personal belongings to be stored for five months and a pack to live out of for the next five months. Oh, and whatever you need for the week before you leave and what you might need when you return but before your stuff has been delivered from storage (wedding? starting work before we find a place to live?).

Despite all the complexities that these pragmatic concerns raise, the most difficult part for me was the emotional aspect. Probably because I hadn't expected it to be so difficult to part with all my stuff for five months. I like my stuff, but more than my affection for it, it provides me with a sense of security and control which I have neatly packed away in boxes which are sitting in a basement somewhere. I don't have a home anymore. We just have to trust that for the next five months we will make do with what we can carry with us. Rationally I know that we will and I even suspect that when we return all the stuff I lovingly encased in layers of paper and bubble wrap will seem like gross excess. But not yet.

Rationally I am looking forward to experiencing life without the burden of ou household items. I am excited to take on the world, just my husband and me. My rational self may have been ready and willing, but my emotional self was't on board. Which I realized little by little and finally accepted when I ended up in tears this morning mourning my stuff and unable to find what I needed to pack for my quick weekend in NY (I may also have been feeling guilty about leaving my husband to collect the last odds'n'ends and finish cleaning our apartment--thanks honey).


So, after all the laments, what are my take-aways?
(1) Start packing early (much earlier than you think you need to). Next time I would worry less about getting things in boxes and start with sorting. If we had we probably could have made some extra money from the stuff we are donating by selling it on Craigslist.
(2) Organize!! I don't have any tips on this one because although we tried to keep track of what we needed when, it all ended up in the same big pile of stuff that wasn't going to storage. Not so helpful.

(3) Acknowledge your emotional self. I didn't even consider the emotional aspect of our decision to leave behind everything familiar and, as such, I was prepared to be sidetracked from crossing things off our to do list by the enormity of what we are undertaking. If I had dealt with this sooner perhaps it all would have gone a lot smoother.