Moving Day!

So here’s the plan:

1. pack up stuff
2. pile boxes in the corner
3. give furniture back to Sarah, my college roommate whose stuff I stole
4. rent U-Haul
5. convince everyone that I can drive a U-Haul
6. load up U-Haul
7. drive U-Haul to Bryan and validate #5
8. unload U-Haul
9. unpack boxes
10. go to the beach

It’s a well thought-out plan. I am currently on steps 1 and 2, the rest will happen over the course of the weekend. Packing is always kind of a fun thing for me. It helps that I don’t have a whole lot of stuff to pack up! I’m currently sitting on the floor looking at the pile of boxes in the corner, tallying up the sum of my life. Y’all better not expect much from my will if I die! The majority of the boxes that I’m looking at are filled with books. These really are my most prized possessions! A friend was helping me move once, and she joking asked if I’d actually read any of the books she was unpacking – two bookshelves worth. The answer is yes, all of them, most more than once! Everything from “Animals You Will Never Forget” to Tom Clancy to David Platt to John Steinbeck, I’ve read it all. And for some obsessive reason, I also must own them all! I think I’ve single-handedly kept Barnes & Noble afloat so far. I love the smell of books, the feel of the pages, the sight of a full bookshelf. I have a problem…

The rest of the stuff are things like dishes and Christmas decorations and other boring stuff like that. Except for one plastic tub, labeled “decorations.” Inside is basically my life’s story – all the trinkets and souvenirs that mark my travels around the world. These are more like long-time friends that possessions! The mariachi band bookends and hand-painted tiles from Saltillo, the hand-carved olive wood statue of a shepherd from Bethlehem, the brightly painted fish-covered canoe from Panama (and my machete!), the bamboo vases from Thailand, the spear tip and woven mats from Ethiopia, the silver tea set from Morocco. None of these have any real value except for the memories and experiences that come flooding back every time I see them. A whole world and a whole lifetime’s worth! I really do have an amazing life.