Boxed In

I just love packing. I love bringing order to everything.

I bought a whack of unassembled cardboard boxes. I put each one together, reinforce it with tape, fill it, label it with its contents and mark what room I want it to end up in on Gabriola. I’m doing this all day today and tomorrow before the mover’s arrive on Wednesday. They’re coming to give me an estimate.

On Wednesday the things I ordered online start arriving and that’s really going to fill up my space. I’m kind of camping in a forest of boxes.

This morning I sent an email to a guy near Nanaimo hoping to get two cords of wood delivered to the cabin. Yum!

The single downside to this move is that I’ve alienated my only friend with whom I’m intimate. We’ve been close for ten years I’ve hurt him. It’s something can recall doing only once before; both of us are unhappy — me more than him, I think. He’s got other friends.

This morning I came into my office high on the smell of the fresh air. I savored the sweet smell while my ears took in the cacophony of urban howl and I considered how much sweeter mornings might be on the island when I open the doors to my deck.

My new favourite words: Gabriola, island, deck, lawn, studio, hot tub, bar-b-q, silence, and privacy.

I’m Purring

Sunday: The day of rest. Okay, well not rest, but no long list of duties for me today. It’s nice and warm again today but Monday and Tuesday are predicted to be rainy days — they’ll be perfect for packing. So all I’m tasking myself with today is to get the bubble wrap and cardboard boxes I want.

I’m already looking forward to next summer and my life outdoors in my yard on my deck with the outdoor shower and hot tub — and the birds. But I’m in no way winter averse — not at all. I swoon at the thought of snow falling and being in the cabin, cozy and warm in front of the fire.

I called realtor Dwayne three weeks ago; just two weeks ago the ad for my place went public and in less than two weeks I move. It’s been fast and smooth.

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I had a meal with my friends, Karen and Bob, who are moving to Kelowna around the same time I move to Gabriola. (Every time I write that word, “Gabriola,” and even better, the word “island,” I get a rush of joy through my body.) We talked about our moves and the reactions of our friends. It was really interesting. It was worse for me, though, because I am single. By worse I mean the concern was sometimes intense because friends worried about me being alone. We, however, both felt proud to be up to such a dramatic change in our lives at our age.

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I love packing; I love the “laying of hands on all things” it involves. I can cull, box and label everything. Most of all, I can sort. Packing is an amusement park for people with OCD tendencies. I’m purring.

Tonight Bruce and Michael come for a relaxing early dinner of Indian food.

High Gear

I’m in serious high gear now.

Todd’s offer to help me for the three-day Thanksgiving weekend set me into high gear. I completed my list of purchases today and did many key duties: I arranged for cable and Internet, my telephone landline, for my hydro connection and to activate the well. And huzzah huzzah: I’ve actually started informing my long list of companies and service providers of my change of address.

At one point on Saturday I thought my brain would fry if I tried to make another decision but I think this whole process has gone rather smoothly. Both transactions rolled out as Dwayne predicted they would and suddenly I’ve only two more weeks as a resident of the city of my birth. Two weeks left!

For the next two days I remove, box and label everything in my lockers, cupboards and shelves. Next week a lot of deliveries are due: A patio set, new freezer, patio heater, bar-b-q, guest mattresses and box springs.

The goal remains well worth the effort.