zen calm packing

from me:

moving update. bought a king sized mattress yesterday. yes, it’ll be on the floor until we get a frame. yes, there are no bedside tables, no bureaus, no lamps, and … and no sheets that fit it yet. but we’ll have a place to sleep.

moving from furnished to unfurnished is an adventure 🙂 thankfully so far it’s been a pretty zen adventure. we have so little stuff it’s hard to get too wound up…

our last move was international, so really this is light and breezy by comparison. and now i think that moving every 5 years is a great idea — cleaning out the drawers, using up random postage, eating whatever is in the fridge, chucking out expired cans of beans.

I haven’t moved sober before. i’m surprisingly calm. ok, Mr. B is doing most of the harder stuff. i’m doing the paperwork, negotiating the moving contract, changing the tenant’s insurance, ordering the internet. he makes the tea, i mail sober bracelets (!). we’re not always so team-like but this week has been good. we compromised on the bed: he wanted a very expensive pillow (like jesus christ it was 90€). I said fine, if i can order the bedframe with the footboard. he agreed. i like footboards. neat and straight. keep the blankets from draping off. keep things tidy. me? freaky much?

i am zen. i’m not micromanaging the packing. i’m not watching what he’s doing. he checks what i want to throw out (cuz i’m a chucker and he’s a keeper).

we thought that when we moved from here it would be to go home, probably against our will, and that moving from here would be filled with despair and sadness.

instead it’s filled with zen calm. we’re staying in the same city and moving to a place better. sort of like a sober journey, oui? find help you can resonate with (i.e. the movers who came on time for the estimate appt. versus the ones who were 45 minutes late). find help that understands you (i.e. the movers who speak english!, sober support from people who get it). get rid of what doesn’t serve you (booze, old magazines, clothes that don’t fit). share the work (ask for and then accept help, even if it’s not ‘the way you’d do it’ – our way wasn’t working! hasn’t worked for awhile!).

be prepared to eat leftovers, toast, take out, microwave dinners. be underwhelmed. cancel catering events for the tiny groups. have some minimum requirements. yes, i’ll do this for you but only to this amount, only on these days — oh sorry, i’m not free that day, i’m busy taking care of me.

carry your passport, sobriety pledge, and sober bracelets in your purse, don’t trust them with anyone, keep them near at hand.