Nothing adds stress and pressure to life quite like having a strict time deadline added to an already unpleasant task. I felt the gun to my head all day as I cleared all of my worldly belongings out of where I’ve lived the last two and a half years. The more boxes I moved, the more that seemed to appear. It felt like Jesus’s loaves and fishes miracle in reverse.
Nobody realizes just how much junk is accumulated until moving time. I knew I’d let a few things add up, but not like this. It seemed as though I was a one man Sanford and Son junk removal service as I packed every trinket, bauble and ‘collectible’ I had to my name.
Thankfully I was able to move the bulk of my sports cards out recently or this probably would have been my last day on Earth. I couldn’t have handled lifting all those big heavy boxes up the stairs, into the car, out of the car and into the storage shed like I did with all the others I did today. I never like to ask anyone to help me move because it’s unpleasant.
I don’t like to do it, so why should I expose my friends to that torture? I always figured it was my stuff, and I should be responsible for moving it. This time was worse, as I really wasn’t prepared or packed with any kind of order. I had a time limit drop out of nowhere and had to be out in two days. Even if people did show up, I wouldn’t have been ready.
This has been one of the most grueling tasks I can ever remember having to do. I got up at 5am yesterday and worked solid until 1:30am this morning. Then I was back up at 4:30 because I couldn’t sleep worrying I wouldn’t be out on time. I drove to the Country Inn in Gurnee, IL to check my email, as I needed to get my airline information for my next trip.
It was one stressful thing after the other as I ran around doing errands between filling up my storage unit, which could have been packed a lot more efficiently had I had some time to do it. It was very symbolic of life in a way, having to rush through with limited options and make due. If circumstances were different, results would be different. But they’re not.
I could feel my energy and whatever exuberance I had at the start drain out of me as my legs and back began to throb with soreness every time I lifted a halfway heavy box. It was the ultimate workout that lasted TWO FULL DAYS. Let’s see Richard Simmons or Billy Blanks match that one. I should come out with a new video “Sweatin’ To The Deadline”.
Finally, after full day and a half of busting my ass physically like I can’t remember ever doing, my friend Shelly came over with a pickup truck I never knew her and her husband had. I never like to bother people, but Shelly is the greatest. Like me, she’s a helper and it shows. Sometimes that’s a bad thing because people take advantage, but that’s how it is.
I never want to take advantage of anyone, but especially people like Shelly. She showed up with the truck and we packed the little bit of furniture I do have, which consists of one table and a small cabinet with drawers to keep important papers, and moved it to the shed. We piled as much other stuff as we could around it and that’s where it will sit for a while.
Shelly also handles my website and co-hosts The Mothership Connection radio show on WLIP. Now that I’m gone for a few months, she and the rest of the panel have kept going and I couldn’t be happier about it. That show is fun and deserves to be on the air, but I’m not able to turn down the money from the ships so Shelly helps keep that going as well.
I’m totally grateful for all she’s done and all anyone else has done too, but something in my deep down psyche still has trouble trusting anyone. I don’t think Shelly is going to do anything to screw me over, but it’s happened so often in the past I can’t help but worry.
Today there was no time for worry or anything else but getting everything out of where I was staying. The other people were already out and this was my last chance. To make it even more of a challenge, I had a class to teach at Harper College by 7pm. That was THE last thing I wanted to do, but I made the commitment and wasn’t going to back out of it.
I also found a new situation to live which was a lot like my old one. The sister in law of the woman I originally made the deal with to rent from also has a house with a furnished basement not far away. She offered the same deal with the same rent, and I had to take it.
Do I want to live in basements the rest of my life? Of course not, but like where I was it isn’t horrible at all and there are a lot of upsides. I won’t have a lease, just like I didn’t all the time I stayed where I was. Yes, it ended a little inconveniently but nobody is angry at each other. We’re still friends and we helped each other out along the way. That’s good.
This situation should be very similar, and if it isn’t I can move out at any time. My rent will help her out and it’s a win/win. My future is so uncertain that it wouldn’t have been a smart thing to sign a lease anywhere, and I’m glad I didn’t have to. This is fine for now.
I can guarantee one thing though, the next time I move it will NOT be the stressful two day marathon of torture this one was. I will begin purging myself of any and all physical possessions as soon as I get the chance. My mind set has changed dramatically, and I am not interested in acquiring physical possessions. This planet isn’t my true home anyway.
I don’t know where that is, but I know I don’t need to be hauling most of the junk that’s in the storage area there. I’m going to weed out as much as I can, and travel light the rest of my life. If I really want a book or movie or CD, chances are I can find it pretty easily.
The class went very well at Harper College, but after that I still had work to do. I had a couple more loads to haul to the new place, and I was on a strict time schedule now. My flight was leaving at 5:30am and I couldn’t miss it for anything. Well I could, but I didn’t want to. If I missed the flight due to my error I’d likely be fired. I don’t want to find out.
On my way to the airport, some goofus ran a red light way out in the suburbs and I did not see it coming until it was too late. I swerved to miss him and slid into the ditch next to the highway and tore up the entire back end of my car which was filled with one final load of my stuff. I managed to get myself out, but now I’m going to need a car. Again.
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