Over the course of my 32 years, I have called 15 different buildings “home”. I define home as the place with most of my clothes, books, and charger cords. This averages out to a new home every 2.13 years.
I’ve been thinking about my different homes because I’ve just finished moving into number fifteen! I unpacked the last suitcases being used as storage and put up a shoe rack in closet. I took a week and organized every drawer, every closet, every shelf in my apartment. My bathroom cabinets are a wonder and joy to behold. After three and a half years here, I am FINALLY moved into my home.
Three and a half years. The moving-in process here has taken more time than my entire existence in some previous homes. I blame my baby. Really, it was her fault. She came seven weeks early on the same day we moved into our newly purchased apartment. The movers left at 5pm and I was having an emergency C-section three hours later.
Because my husband and I were going to the NICU all day everyday for almost a month, my entire apartment was unpacked by my mother-in-law and our cleaning lady. Of course, I will never forget the this great act of kindness on behalf of my mother-in-law. But no one is going to organize your space and your things the same way you would. I, for one, don’t organize my books by height and color.
And this is why I am absolutely giddy. After years of thinking things lost and rediscovering stuff I didn’t remember having in the first place, I have taken back control of my space and my stuff and woe be unto the person who puts the colander back in the wrong drawer. I threw out every deviceless cable, every broken handled cheese grater, and every expired bottle of cough syrup. My week of obsessive organizing went so deep, I got pictures framed that have been buried in closets since 2002.
Such a deep cleaning brings up a lot of questions. Why would reasonable people with enough money keep a broken-handled cheese grater? Who was I when I bought the jean miniskirt with frayed edges? How does a person acquire so much lotion?
But I’m not going to dwell on questions without answers. Not when I can bask in the glory of knowing where every single thing in my apartment is currently located. Every. Single. Thing. I’m dying to make a game out of it. I want to roll my desk chair to middle of the den, sit with my eyes closed, and have my husband call out random items.
“Coffee filters?”
“Cabinet directly beneath the coffee pot, top shelf.”
“Rechargeable double AA batteries?”
“TV stand in the playroom, in the right-side drawer, on the left.”
“The cuff links a student gave me which I’ll never wear but haven’t thrown/given away.”
“Your night stand, top drawer.”
This is the closest to omniscient I will ever be. And it feels amazing. Totally worth the wait.
lol! I know how it feels to feel organised. Well done for all your hard work! I’m on the other hand still needs need to go through a few boxes myself – that I have moved in two years ago! It is getting there – sloowly! I’m sure you’ll find good use for cuff links. Haha! Thank you for linking up with. Great to have you with my little #FabFridayPost linky. x
Two years with boxes…that’s nothing. I think there’s a five year moving in time frame. This gets lengthened siginificantly if you move overseas. My mom, dad and grandmother all have boxes of my childhood and college stuff sotred in their homes that I’ve never moved down to Brazil. I moved down nine years ago. I figure I’ll pick it up when we move back to the States in five years.
We’re in the process of packing our house up too – we’ve lived here only just a year, and haven’t actually finished unpacking! We moved here when my son was 3 months old.
We have to move for my husband’s new job and I’m dreading it. I haven’t stayed still for more than 2 years since I moved out of home 10 years ago.
On the plus side, if you haven’t finished unpacking, it’s fewer things to pack this time around. Seriously though, moving with a small child is the one moving joy I haven’t experienced yet. Good luck with that! I hope the transition isn’t too difficult!
[…] Unpacking Home Number Fifteen […]
You should submit this post to Real Simple magazine. Your writing is pitch perfect (minus a typo or two) — so much fun to read. Thanks for bringing back Coconut Water!
Yay, you’re back!
You just inspired me to do the math and I’ve racked up 16 buildings in 30 years (if you count boarding school and different college buildings?), resulting in an average of 1 year, 10 months and 2 weeks per building! Now to decide if that’s impressive or worrying…
Certainly you can’t tease us with this and then not include photos!