And like Junior High, I did not handle it well. I was a petulant misery to be around. I was exhausted and stressed and my
But as I said - didn't handle it well.
You don't necessarily realize what you've lost for a while. Then it's a month later and you're all "Where is that fruit bowl that your Aunt Jane lent us?" and you go to look for it and can't find it. Then after a fruitless and frustrating search, you come to the conclusion that it's just gone.
Then there's the other stuff you lose. The stuff that goes missing into the ether and paints a very interesting picture of the whole process, as well as your questionable mental health. So here's a list of things I lost while moving.
10. Every single pair of my son's underpants. What? 9. One large Justin Beiber poster. By "accident".
8. My ability to not shriek and instead ask nicely to please hurry up because we're late.
7. The Dora backpack that sings really loud and doesn't have an off-switch.
6. Four weeks of sleep.
5. My desire to cook or eat anything healthy or anything other than take-out. [Editor's note - it was not unlike the Morgan Spurlock documentary "Supersize Me" except for some bizarre reason I actually lost about 5 pounds.]
4. Pictures of myself in college while on spring break in Jamaica. Also on accident. They sort of fell into the grill while there was a really big fire in it.
3. An athletic cup. Not the strappy part that holds it in place. Just the cup. Huh?
2. The most heinous red tie in the history of ever, purchased at JC Penney in the early 90's worn for the sole purpose of annoying me.
1. My sense of humor.*
*I eventually got it back.
(c)Herding Turtles, Inc. 2009 - 2011
UGH I SO hear you on this one. I am in the middle of a move now...literally..sitting in the middle of a pile of boxes. The upside is my hubby and kids are 500 miles away. So it's pretty much me and a T-box at night.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, my sentiments about moving exactly! It's why we still live in the house we bought when we were expecting the first little terror suspect -- seventeen years ago. Yes, it's our "starter house", but on the plus side, it will be the perfect size when they all leave in a few years. Aren't we clever??
ReplyDeleteAnd those items you lost? Gone forever, until they turn up years from now when you go to pack for your next move...really.
Love this! We moved cross country (with 2 toddlers) from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment. It was so horrifying that I told hubby I'd happily spend the rest of my life in the apartment just so I'd never have to move again. Sigh. He didn't agree and we bought a new house 2 years ago.
DeleteDearest Lydia, I salute you. You know I've moved 7 times in the last 5 years and it is a total b!tch, no matter what. I'd like to think that with each move I got more organized and less frantic....but, no. In our last move I just frantically threw everything in black garbage bags and then spent months sorting through everything on the other end. FAIL.
ReplyDeleteWe lost a pair of combat boots, his favorite Buck knife and a board game called Axis & Allies. We moved, literally, like 2 miles away. How do you lose things that you're CERTAIN you packed? It's been 13 years and my husband still mourns the loss of that knife.
ReplyDeleteWe are in the process of selling our house and moving and I must say, I am excited to "accidentally" lose many things....kinda like your Justin Beiber poster and Dora backpack.
ReplyDeleteIn the month of September my (now husband) and our 2 kids lost our house and nearly everything in it (except for what would fit in the back of my SUV) to a deveststimg flood in our area. We moved us and all our (remaining) stuff 4 times in 3 weeks!! It was AWFUL! 4 1/2 months later we're STILL in our final landing place, having tried to buy a 'new' house unsuccessfully 3 times!! (everything keeps falling through during closing). I can't wait to move into a permanent place of our OWN but at the same time am dreading it with evey fiber of my being because I am 99.9% sure we have managed to accumulate MORE stuff than we originally had in our flooded home!!! How the WHUCK does that happen in 1/2 the square footage space we are in?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking we need to move again just so I can *accidentally* lose some of our toys- we have WAY TOO MANY! Your guest post by the SAHD the other day really struck a chord with me. By the way, I love you guys- thanks for the smiles:)
ReplyDeletehttp://fourunder4plustwo.blogspot.com
My husband and I have moved seven times in nine years. What I lost and never found was my decorating urge. If the picture is on the wall and not the floor it's good enough for me. I seem to recall spending A LOT of time and effort in making my first two apartments nice. Now, I do not care even a little. The up side of moving that many times is that many of the butt ugly gifts we were given were alas, broken. Sometimes legit, sometimes..less so. Ditto on my husbands HORRID SMELLY BALL CAP COLLECTION. Hate them. Hate them SO MUCH. Sorry boo, I have no clue where your disgusting hat from when you worked at the Borders Cafe in 2004 went. Yeah, it did have a really cool leather strap. Maybe it will turn up.
ReplyDeleteMaybe. MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA
my problem is not the things I've lost during the moving ( a year and a half ago), it's the things that went missing since then. One ball for the ball smashy toy, the tray for my toaaster oven, one blue race car. I know they made the trip, because I've seen them at the new place, but darned if I cantrack them down. I did locate the zhuzhu pets, which is tricky because they can drive and hide, ALL BY THEMSELVES!
ReplyDeleteyep - I moved with a 2-year-old and a newborn, and my husband came down with a mysterious stomach illness that day! What I learned - hand-carry the coffee maker!
ReplyDeleteI'm in the beginning stages of an international move (coming back home after a similar move 3 years ago)...I can totally relate!! The best part of the moves are some of these things we "loose" (wink, wink), and yet the sanity lost does not get as easily replaced.
ReplyDeleteI have moved. A LOT. 4 moves ago I packed a beautiful iron tea pot (Japanese style) and it's matching cups and saucers. I unpacked every single box and couldn't find it. It was G O N E. I was sure the movers (a questionable bunch of lugs) stole it. It was the first time I ever used a moving company and was so upset. Fast forward three more moves into our current home and we screaming at the top of my lungs that I FOUND IT!!! You would have thought I found a way for cars to run on dirty salt water I made such a fuss. I'm just so happy the space-Time continuum was gracious enough to cough my missing tea set back up!
ReplyDeleteMoving... I hate it. Now, if it was ever to "upgrade", say to a house that will eventually be ours and live in forever (hopefully) until we pass on, I will be just as bitchy but then go into happy mode after it's all said and done. I have moved SO much in my life, and I always hate it.
ReplyDeleteThe last time we moved our computer 'misplaced' its operating system. Nice. 4 years and 3,321 baby pictues later Carbonite is my new best friend.
ReplyDeleteWhat a way to wake up! I just LOL!!!!! I agree it is hell. I was a moving virgin until I was 22. Got my 1st apartment with my best friend. My family helped me move and just kept bringing boxes in and setting them EVERYWHERE. Apparently I lost my schmidt too. I do not remember this but it sounds like something I could have done. My roommate said I freaked her out and she wondered if she had made a big mistake. She said that I yelled at everybody and then went and sat in a corner with my back facing them and rocked. Yes, I ROCKED with my arms held tight to my body and cryed. This would be the first of many times I have lost my MIND in a move!
ReplyDeleteAfter 7 moves in 8 years (with one more on the horizon... But it's local! No hotels or 2 day drives with 4 kids...2 of whom get carsick!), we have lost so many things it's not even funny :). We have our share of things lost on purpose... "sorry guys, we must have left that awful toy at the old house..." :)
ReplyDeleteWe had to downsize due to my father passing away. Not only did I pack our stuff, I had to pack my fathers things too. Thank heavens I have a HUGE attic (we made sure to make the attic as large as possible) and was able to place his things there. The emotional toll of moving, new baby and husband problems (he was thinking about leaving me in Oct 2009. I found out in March 2011) Left me with no desire to cry more over my Dad. Going to do it this spring, it hopefully wont be so bad.
ReplyDeleteI hope!
We move alot, and I seem to lose key parts to bigger things: the metal filter basket for my espresso machine and the little cap for the milk steamer, the plug to a deep fryer that had been used all of once, the hard to find fasteners that hold my kids' bunk bed together (The company that makes them actually sent me those for free as they were not sold in stores anywhere in the state I lived in.), the large bolts holding my table together... the list goes on. The sad part is that each time we move I think I have a surefire plan to make it to the next destination without losing anything.
ReplyDeleteI tape the bolts/pieces to the furniture and wrap it around a few times to ensure I know what they belong to
DeleteLike most military families we move a lot. This last move was the worst- they crammed, um er packed all of my husbands combat boots into A box, yes ONE box on top of ALL of my HEELS and then taped it all up. I almost had to go to the ER for a shot of morphine and a straight-jacket when I opened that box! They once lost our dining room table top- not the legs just the TOP! WTH? (And yes, we had a table that the legs screw out of, thats how we roll.) It was fairly large too- sat 8. How do you "misplace" a whole table top?
ReplyDeleteI lost all of my nicely fitting clothes. ;) Could have been the 4 weeks in between states living off of fast food, could have been the movers losing a box...I decided to blame the movers. I also lost my favorite glass mixing bowl and my one 9x13 glass baking dish, but those were actually mover errors. Ummm, you can't stack a bunch of glass stuff and wrap it all together. Not. Protected.
ReplyDeleteYour 'accidental' losses are the best.
ReplyDeleteI see a move in our future - and I must tell you that the ability to "accidentally" lose things (without them actually suspecting me) is so tantalizing. Also, it's lucky that I've already lost most of my mind, sanity, and sense of humor so I don't have to worry about that. Maybe I'll find them like Cat's iron tea pot?!
ReplyDeleteLet's see we moved 3 years ago & my husband is still muttering about the idiot movers who lost the drawers that went under our oldest full size bed (that was real), the rice cooker his parents gave us (my bad... the thing made a mess & someone @ salvation army is cleaning it up now), & the box of "dragon action figures" that the kids couldn't touch even though my husband did (my bad again). Moving can be freeing if done correctly.
ReplyDeleteWe are a military family and move a ton. If movers didn't pack my house for me, I'd totally revolt, and probably just sit on the floor crying. I HATE packing. But I love being able to get rid of the crap we accumulate in such a short time. I use moving like my spring cleaning. So pretty much, my house doesn't get cleaned until we move :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd then, after they've moved your stuff, you look around the house and go, wow, why does it look dirtier than when our stuff was in here?
DeleteAhhhhh ... the problemas of the first worlders continue.
ReplyDeleteSheeeesh! Be grateful that you have a place to move to.
I plan to move this summer. My husband hasn't signed off on it yet, but whatever. We're moving. I already know I'm going to lose it.
ReplyDeleteHusband: What's in those boxes by the garbage can outside?
ReplyDeleteMe: I don't know.
Husband: Then why are you throwing them away?
Me: They haven't been unpacked since we moved into this house, 10 years ago.
Husband: But I might need that stuff.
Me: Can we make a deal?
Husband: What are the terms?
Me: You name one thing in either of those boxes and you can keep them.
Husband: ...
Bye Bye boxes!
Moving: The Gift That Gives In So Many Ways, For So Many Years.
In the past three years, we´ve moved three times (thanks, Air Force). And my husband? He´s been around for exactly 0 of those moves (again, thanks). Not exactly the greatest, especially when you´re trying to relicense your car, convert your professional licenses, find a new house (´cause they just told you two weeks ago exactly where you were moving), and search for a job. But you know what? It was all worth it the first time around, purely for the opportunity to "lose" a bunch of old bachelor clothes, furniture, and other memorabilia. Woops.
ReplyDeleteWe moved last winter. It took me about 8 months to get over it. Our house is dreamy, I plan to die here, though. Never moving again.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little disappointed. I thought your sanity would be in the top 3. :( lol
ReplyDeleteI am about to head into the insanity of moving. Apparently I figured it would be a good idea to buy our first house this spring. Oh and I am due in June. When does our rental lease run out? Oh yeah June. So that will mean I will be moving, more than likely, full term, with my 3.5 and 2 year old. I fully expect to lose my schmidt. My husband is already saying "oh I can do most of it myself", bless his stupid little heart. Once this move is done (4th move in 5 years of marriage), bury me in this house. Because. I. Ain't. Budging.
ReplyDeleteWe lost all our silverware. Every. last. piece. As well as every utensil. Every one. Thank goodness for Ikea.
ReplyDeleteI "lost" my daughter's social security card. I've seen it, and the folder it's in, in the new house, I swear... but our families were so nice to come out to help us unpack that the important stuff like um... THAT... vanished. And my Kindle. And (feels like) half my brain - though that latter thing could be the new mommy thing. Moving with a newborn = not that much fun.
ReplyDeleteAnd I loved "forgetting" the twilight poster my ex-roomie from college gave me when I moved out. ~ 'Oh darn it... how did I Ever 'forget' Thaaaaaat?' It was creepy and she'd reminded me like 5 times to take it. Ew.
LOL! I too lost a poster of "The Biebz" because of Micaela R. LOL!
ReplyDeleteLOL! Anyways, instead of my "stupid" husband, I asked our 68 year old neighbor who only wears bathrobes. and... y'know what (LOL!) I lost all of my son's underpants, too! I may, or may not, have lost my sense of LOL! humor, but I think I gained it back! LOL!
However I've been incredibly depressed lately, Please Advise.