Packing Up and Moving On

Whew! What a whirlwind. It’s been a little more than three weeks since I quit my job at Baylor and two weeks since I moved out of my apartment in Waco. It’s funny how change happens … you brainstorm the idea, craft a plan, start the ball rolling … and then all of a sudden, the reality of the moment is upon you.

Surprisingly, I found that quitting my job was fairly easy. I created numerous lists of what needed to be accomplished before I left and diligently checked-off each task, each week. I did my best to leave coworkers, bosses, and staff members with enough completed projects and detailed information to help in my departure — and everyone was extremely supportive of my big move. One boss even said, “THIS is how you quit a job!!” The real hard part was saying goodbye to the wonderful people I had worked with for 8 years.

​Moving out of my apartment of ELEVEN YEARS proved to be much more difficult. I knew I had accumulated A LOT of stuff over the years — I moved to Waco for graduate school in 2006 and stayed for two jobs with the university — but the sheer volume of paperwork, knickknacks, clothes, photos, dishes, etc., was overwhelming. I spent weekend after weekend going through every cabinet, notebook, travel bag, drawer, and closet. I gave myself two weeks off of work to sort, organize, purge and pack every single thing in my apartment, and in hindsight, I should’ve taken a month! 
I did learn some valuable lessons from the haze and chaos of moving:

• You can’t do it all by yourself! I am a very independent person and try to do most things on my own. Moving is not one of those things. In the final hours of packing and purging, I had to cry out for help. Luckily, I have wonderful friends to came to my rescue and helped me finish the job.
• Hire movers. Yes, it cost money but it’s worth it! Friends are fantastic but moving is hard work and it’s not their responsibility to move box after box of all of your crap!
• There will be obstacles to overcome. I knew I would face challenges with moving, but I thought they’d be physical challenges. Mine came in the form of people — a rude Russian neighbor who had my car towed for parking in his reserved spot while I was loading boxes, an old friend of mine who came to help but wound up having a mental breakdown and locked himself naked and screaming in my bathroom (note to self, don’t ask a bipolar friend to help you move), and lastly an angry Russian neighbor who screamed profanities in my face and called the cops because the 15-foot Uhaul truck was parked in his $.33 a-day reserved parking spot. Oh, did I mention the Russian twice…yep, two weeks of chaos with that one. Ugh.

But in the end, some beautiful things came from moving out of my eleven-year stay on the Brazos river. I was reminded of the unwavering love and support of my parents, the kindness of strangers, and the importance of a support system. It’s taken me a few days to recover from the chaos of moving, but the bruises have healed, peace is restored knowing my possessions are safely tucked away, and my exhaustion from moving has finally subsided.

I believe there are signs in life that help validate or deter you from decisions. I loved my job, my apartment, and my comfort little life in Waco … but the last few moments truly validated my decision … that it is indeed time to move on and challenge myself with a new adventure!