I Think This Is Winning

Man, it’s been a hell of a few weeks.

We started out the beginning of July with a sick kid that was in and out of the ER/hospital for two weeks. Juggling schedules, taking vacation days, sitting around in hospital rooms waiting on docs and nurses to administer meds, taking care of the dog, and being genuinely scared and frustrated because of the lack of anyone figuring out why our kid had severe stomach cramping, diarrhea, and vomiting. She eventually got better all of a sudden, and we now(tentatively) have a possible idea as to what her problem has been(she’s had stomach issues since her early teens.) It’s been over two weeks since it stopped, and we’re getting close to a month since it all started on July 8th. So I’m hoping we don’t have a repeat.

Then all of last week was boxing up stuff that my son and his girlfriend were taking with them on their move to Indianapolis. The house was in disarray, which is never good for my somewhat OCD brain. Thursday our son picked up the U Haul, then we went to his sister’s place and grabbed a loveseat she’d gotten from my mom. She wasn’t going to be using it anymore, so they were grateful for some furniture. Tuesday night we tried getting a couch out of our basement for them to take, but the basement was finished since then and the staircase is too tight to maneuver a full couch out of. Believe me, we tried every angle and by the end I was ready to take a chainsaw to it(when we are ready for it to go that’s probably not far off from how it’s going to be removed.)

So around 10pm they were fully loaded and left for his girlfriend’s parents place. My wife and I couldn’t get off work for the move-in which was last Friday, so her mom and cousin went down with them to get them moved in. By 11am he texted me to let me know they were all in. Our oldest lives about 10 minutes away from them and they had the day off work so were able to come over and help them out. Afterwards they went for breakfast and we heard it was delicious(chicken n waffles, anyone?)

I took Monday off as we went to a concert(Kurt Vile) Sunday night, but most of the weekend was spent rearranging/cleaning/sweating/cursing while moving stuff around in the basement at our place. Our daughter and her dog are going to be setting up their space in the basement, so things needed to be cleaned up and moved around so there’s space for her bed and dresser. I spent Sunday morning moving the bulk of my vinyl records from one room in the basement to another room in the basement. Monday was moving our office desk from one room to another. This is not a light desk. It’s a Sauder two piece desk we bought back in 1998 when we bought our first desktop computer(Compaq Presario). It’s seen much action in it’s nearly 30 year lifetime, including lots of little kids playing Where In Time Is Carmen San Diego?, learning Spanish with Rosetta Stone, or learning to type with Mavis Beacon.

I’ve unattached the one piece from the desk countless times over the years, and each time I seem to lose one of the screw. This thing is now being held by three screws. I think this is its last leg. No more moves unless it’s to the dumpster.

The old music room that had turned into a dingy tv/videogame hangout for my son and his friends, then as a spot for couples to come over and eat pizza, is now my music room/writing office now. Besides a couple pieces of furniture, it’s about as close to done as it will get. I plan on putting up some paintings on the walls, and I’ve got a couple concert posters I want to hang up. Not sure when I’ll get those framed but hopefully soon. The kids are coming to pick up their fish this Friday, then I’ll have one half of the basement room cleared and ready for my daughter and Celeste. I’m off Friday, so I plan on shampooing the carpets down there as well. It’s never been done. I used to sweep down there every week, but since the family room had moved elsewhere it was easy for me to ignore it.

Also this weekend we will be getting my wife moved into our son’s old room upstairs so she can have a home office/craft space. She bought an adjustable height desk a couple months ago, so we’ll be moving that upstairs from her current spot which is in the bedroom in the basement. I’m excited for her to have her own spot, as her spaces tended to get used up by the kids or for storage. She’ll now have a permanent spot for her quilting and a space she can use when she works from home.

Today I’m completely exhausted. Felt like I could have slept another 4 hours when the alarm went off at 5am. This is the sorest I’ve been in a while. You really forget how much moving sucks, until you’re in the process of moving. Muscles are used that usually stay content and quiet, no strain to speak of. That is until it’s time to move 2,000 vinyl records from one room to the other, or a loveseat from a two-story apartment into a moving truck.

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I’m ready for things to settle. Last week all I could think was I wish that we could skip a week and already be done with the move, the anxiety, and the emotional and physical toll it’s taking on me and my wife. I mean, this whole thing couldn’t have happened at an already preordained busy time. Three concerts, a musical, my wife’s big fundraising event at work, and then to top it all off two weeks of worry about our daughter and her trips to the doc. I thought July of 2024 was bad. And it was, don’t get me wrong. But this past July was like some mental, physical, and emotional gauntlet. We may have made it through, but not unscathed. Besides feeling beaten up from all the moving I feel like I’m getting sick. Two many quick meals out as opposed to our usual home-cooked meals, very little exercise, and just the weight of worry and panic that’s been heaving on my shoulders for nearly a month. And add to that the last three months of working alone, keeping my dept floating while my work mate is out healing from heart surgery.

Allergies, immense heat, and wildfire smoke making our air godawful. Yesterday the air quality level was at 124. 55 is what they consider “moderate”. 124 is post-apocalyptic, nuclear winter levels. Walking to my car after work I feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall. Sinuses are jammed up, stomach feels raw, and I have just a general sense of dread even when things seem okay. It’s like PTSD, and I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or maybe, an entire shoe store to topple their entire inventory on my head.

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Sorry for the whining, but sometimes I need to whine in order to remind myself I’m still here and not just some AI-created middle-aged dude bot. I got today and tomorrow and I’m off, so I’m hoping this coming weekend can be a little quieter, and a little gentler than the last few.

Cheers to that.