Moving

Moving sucks.

There’s the packing. The getting rid of stuff. The putting your house in State College, PA on the market. The looking at houses in Iowa City, IA. Emails with mortgage brokers. And realtors. There’s Solomon’s anxiety about leaving his school. And his friends. There’s Yara’s anxiety about where her litter box will be in the new house. There’s the looming backdrop of a sputtering pandemic, the brink of World War 3, and all the trials and tribulations of being 41.

Talk about lots to process. Adulthood is complicated.

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I have pages in my journal about moving to Central Pennsylvania. From Minneapolis. In 2015. Simpler times. Simpler people. That move was traumatic. Broken furniture. A pregnant wife. A journey to a strange and different land. The blog entries I wrote at the time would haunt your very soul.

I think this move will be different. I’ve moved away from home before. So I know a little about what to expect. Which doesn’t mean the move will be easy. But at least I know what I’m getting into. National moving services. Finding new schools for the boys. Looking for houses. I can wrap my mind around all of these things, even if I know it’ll still be work.

Part of me is sad, and another part of me is excited. A new home. A new life in Iowa City. Iowa City, despite all of my preconceptions about the state of Iowa, seems like a really cool place.

I broke the news to my friends at Happy Valley Improv a few weeks ago. Before a show. Most of our scenes that night were about pigs, corn, and rural wastelands. I won’t pretend that wasn’t my stereotype about Iowa too. I grew up in Minnesota. We told lots of jokes about Iowa. A backwater place.

But Iowa City didn’t feel like that stereotype during my visit. A bustling and thriving college campus. A peaceful river that runs through town. A famous bookstore. Kurt Vonnegut worked there for a year or two, for goodness sake! I’m excited to get out there and get a feel for this new place. We are planning our trip to go find a house. The boys will pile into the car. We’ll drive across the country again. I’ve promised the boys will have a say in our next house. And so they shall. Samson wants a bigger bedroom. And Solomon wants the biggest bedroom. They plan to fight tooth and nail over this important issue.

Me? I want them to have enough space to fight tooth and nail over all the important issues they fight tooth and nail over.

Tooth and nail is a funny phrase. Biting and scratching, I guess. I’m not a fighter, so I wouldn’t now.

Will we end up living in a cornfield? Possibly. I’ll keep you updated.

***

Our house is piles of boxes. And piles of garbage. My internet history is Iowa City Zillow. And information about school districts in Iowa City. We’ve got a few months of transition in front of us.

That’s okay. Change is good. It’s hard, but it is good. Change is the order of things too. So I can embrace change, even as I brace for change. That’s nice phrasing.

Moving sucks, friends, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t good.