more than emotional baggage..

I realized as we get closer to our move-in date (yes, it's really happening!) that I'm facing a wild ride of emotions over the next two weeks. Hopefully Adam is wearing his seat belt.

I have more than just emotional baggage going on.. I have emotional storage buildings.  Plural.

For the first time in months, we'll be unpacking and unloading our lives from our four storage buildings that we've had over the last year.  One building hasn't been touched since my Dad died last July.

That's the one I'm worried about... not just because of the scary stacking and wedging and balancing that's going on in there.. but because after Dad died, we had about a month to sort through, clear away, sell, and store 60+ years of his treasures.  What I decided, at initial glance to keep, went in storage building number one.  And that's where it's been.. for a year.

In the month (actually a little less than) that we had to move Dad's things from his rental property -  it was very much a "survival mode" situation.  It's surprising how many quick decisions have to be made, and how quickly the things in a person's life revert back to things.. and not belongings, or treasures, or stories.. but instead get sorted and shuffled, and packed away.  All out of sheer urgency.  We didn't have the luxury to reminisce, or remember the stories, or wonder at the marvels of engineering and utility he created.  We just had to get it all out.

And now, as I prepare for the next few weeks... and moving into our dream home; I am also preparing to revisit all the things of Dad's we've packed away.  It will take a long time to truly sort through everything but at least now, in our new home, we can give them a new life and not just have them hidden in the family wing of the local storage center.  I can't wait to see his tool chests cleaned up in the garage, a treasured replica of a VW on the bookcase, and other reminders of the full life he lived mixed in with the new beginnings of our home.

So to my friends and family, please be prepared.  If you encounter me during the next two weeks, I will most likely be a whirling dervish of lists, Type A freakouts over minute details, tears of joy and frustration and excitement, covered in a mix of drywall dust, grout sealer, packing tape, and Sharpie.

Losing my mind a little -  day 219 of our build