Just Pondering: Oh, the many joys of relocation

By Medicine Hat News Opinion on May 27, 2021.

I’m writing this month’s column surrounded by a stack of boxes and wondering who pressed the fast-forward button on our life.

Yes, as you guessed hubby and I pulled the trigger and are moving. Now the fun begins! I can honestly admit that the whole process of selling our home of 31 years was almost too easy. The hard part has been saying goodbye. Goodbye to just plain crazy “stuff.”

Now, any of you who have embarked on this journey will agree that we should move every 10 years. It definitely has its merits. For one thing, you don’t convince yourself that every trinket is a diamond in the rough that could be featured on Antiques Roadshow. Also, you aren’t old and spend more time reminiscing than packing.

Our saving grace has been the children who see life very much in the present. They can very easily say adios to my high school transcripts or locks of hair from their first haircuts. This is where the rubber hits the highway and division between the head and heart becomes crystal clear for them. They simply are so darn glad that we are doing this now instead of them being forced to deal with it later when the pile is twice as high! They whip our their phones, snap a few pictures and with one swipe of a finger they have money in hand and our lawnmower now belongs to a new owner.

This is one facet of life that COVID has certainly impacted, and that is the good old fashioned garage sale went. However, for me it has not been quite so easy. Emotions stay close to the surface and that tug of war between head and heart is sometimes overwhelming.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am so excited to be opening a new chapter with my hubby, but no one tells you that the mental toll is actually worse than the physical process in this whole relocation process.

Fortunately, I have no attachment to the 700 nuts and bolts my husband has amassed, or the random hunks of lumber that “just might come in handy one day.” He is often heard muttering under his breath about how eager I seem to be to “chuck out” his treasures, but all the while cramming my seven tubs of photo albums into the back of the car. Strange how true this is!

Soon we will be sitting in our new home, again surrounded by boxes and thinking “OMG now we have to unpack!”

Can’t wait to start making another 30 years of memories and guess what? We are already buying “new stuff.”

Sorry, kids.

Allyson McCaw is a Medicine Hatter. Her column, Just Pondering, will run on the fourth Thursday of each month. Feedback can be sent to letters@medicinehatnews.com

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