Just. Breathe.

Friday

6 days. Truck arrived today. Emotions are a little all over the place and I'm feeling a little bit, sorta, kinda overwhelmed. I've decided that 5 beers, a nanny, chocolate oatmeal cookies and a professional moving company would do my life some good right about now.

We made our last out of town trip this past Monday. Once on the road home the sobering reality was emotional as we realized we've now said Texas goodbyes to everyone and we question when we will see many of these friends and family again. Long talk into the night as we drive dark deserted interstate. Emotions run high as we begin to already miss these sweet friends and close family. I'm a little bit tired and a little bit exhausted so the tears flow freely but the ability to laugh and think something is funny is just as prevalent. And adoring husband knows me well. So he keeps me laughing....evident by a picture or two.

Saturday 11:21 pm

Today proved to be much better than yesterday. I managed to overcome the pity party that seemed to settle in by noon yesterday. Despite the fact errand running husband has every true, legitimate reason in the world to go to town everyday and be gone for 5-6 hours at a time....alone without any children I might add....I managed to reach my end as I focused on the fact the truck was coming, babies were everywhere getting smashed by waiting mattresses to be loaded, falling down concrete porch steps, and getting fingers stuck in box fans while older children griped and whined about the sudden increased workload the impending arrival of truck brought with it, and little boys gleefully smashed sisters' wooden shelves with a hammer while awaiting arrival of truck.

Yep....as that became my focus I quickly lost the joy to be found in the whole process and tears of mental insanity threatened. When town husband finally called saying the truck was arriving early and would be there in 20 minutes I'd kinda reached the end. So I held it together til he said he was hurrying home in an attempt to beat the truck and that he loves me dearly. My anger with him and bad attitude finally bubbled over and the tears came. I didn't say much. There wasn't much to say. He's carrying as much of the load as I am and being mad at him served absolutely no constructive purpose whatsoever. So, I held back the frustration, exhaustion, and angry words and in the struggle to maintain a good attitude tears began to fall....alot of them. He comforted as much as he could from 30 miles away with a moving truck only 15 miles away. So I managed to get off the phone, cry for another 10 minutes, pull it together, and meet the truck driver in much better spirits.

Crowds cheered as it backed down driveway and it was quite a celebratory event within the household. By nightfall husband and children had most furniture loaded and all boxes. My sanity stayed in question for the remainder of the day and by bedtime I was not quite as jolly as productive husband proved to be. Morning came and with it came pumpkin coffee, the little 5 off to sweet friends and a husband that would be home the entire day. The kitchen puked up it's entire stock of glassware and Brad saw my despair. There are 3 things in life I absolutely loathe....making bread, cutting up watermelon....and packing glass...or anything breakable for that matter...which is precisely why we don't own any decorative crap that is even remotely breakable.

So he packed glass while I packed everything else in the kitchen. How grateful I am for a husband that comes to my aid, sits in the floor with me and packs kitchen glass while I sort through boxed and containered pantry stuff. He won my heart over for the millionth time in life.

The remainder of house was packed and loaded on truck. Less than 48 hours after it's arrival truck is loaded and only bunkbed frames remain, as they will go in very last so the bulkhead doors shut against them. But, we're pretty much done, entire house is packed and loaded on truck and we are standing at 4 days until departure. We're living off paper plates, styrofoam bowls, plastic silverware, and dixie cups. Tin foil pans are awesome and I quickly learned I could grow very accustomed to this trash every dish in the house lifestyle. I'm quite certain the carbon footprint, tree hugging, whale saving, granola crunching, solar empowered, lake saving individuals are gonna love us for the next two weeks of our life.

But it makes my heart happy seeing a clean sink knowing all of our possessions are boxed and loaded ready for their journey east. And...it just makes me happy seeing a clean sink in general...moving or not.

Day ended on a much better note. 5 youngest returned home bathed, fed, happy, and ready for bed. I worked on cleaning as older ones played in 75 degree breezy night. There is a happy exhaustion that pervades. Sore muscles scream and back aches from bending, standing, lifting, setting, walking up a truck ramp carrying no less than 40 fifty pound boxes.

On an interesting note...we have 18 ft of a 24 ft trailer for a flat cost. After 18 ft we pay 122.00 per extra foot used. However, if we fail to use all 18 ft they give us 122.00 back per sq ft we did not use. Husband happily told truck driver he highly doubted we'd need all 18 ft. Driver smirked and said "Oh, just wait. They all say that." Then he laughed, I suppose, at our naïveté and the common mistake all movers make of substantially underestimating their possessions in life. I smiled and informed him we'd sold pretty much everything to make this move. He tipped his head and replied, " Well, maybe you stand a chance. But anybody with all these helpers (nodding towards his captivated, much shorter audience) is bound to take up some significant space."

With trailer only awaiting bunkbed frames we are currently sitting at 7 ft of space used. It helps that I married an expert in the field of truck loading and maximizing space. But, as it stands right now, it is estimated we will only use a total of 9-10 ft of the 18 ft given. Driver said an average family of 4-5 people use anywhere between 22-24 ft. I'd say we've done well at simplifying and keeping the crap quota at a reasonable minimum.

So, we are here and happy and my outlook on life has much improved with what we were able to accomplish today. Tomorrow we are home all day as I pack everyone for the road and for a week without the closet. We will arrive at our new home on Sat but the truck will not arrive til Tues of the following week. So I pack everyone up for a week of no clothes and then I pack closet up. Closet boxes will we loaded and bunkbeds will follow to complete the whole process.

Monday I shop for the odds and ends they need for much cooler weather. Tuesday we are home all day. Husband and I head out later that evening to grocery shop for the road. Wednesday we are home all day as van gets aligned and 2 new tires put on it. We'll drop it off very early morning and return home to prepare road food and load totes of grocery items. We'll return to town later that evening to retrieve it. And then....Thursday morning at 5 am we will begin the journey east....where rain, cooler weather, mountains, ocean, and sweet friends await.

And I should also add....the entirety of this post was made from my phone. I learned the hard way that once you begin a post via phone that it cannot be added to or edited on the real computer until it has been published. So, thoughts are a little unorganized and kinda scattered until I get used to thinking while attempting to tap a post out one letter at a time. Although, the automatic spell correction on this thing is pretty cool. And given the fact the keypad is 15 sizes smaller than one's fingertip neighboring letters seem to make up some interesting versions of words. Due to that small fact the spell corrector has proved quite invaluable so I do not spend the majority of my life undoing newly concocted, albeit strange, new words.

Anyway, as a result, pictures are seriously crammed together and thoughts are a little fragmented. But then they may just be fragmented in every regard simply due to the sheer fact that we are in the throws of moving to a home we've never seen, to a state 1500 miles away from the only home we've ever really known, to a job that he does not yet have, and with 10 kids in tow.....and pregnant. Crazy, happy, insanity. What would life be without walking on the wild side?