Packing for the Other Side of the World.

We've always lived pretty compact lives, or at least we like to think we do. 

9 moves will do that to you. 

Almost every. single. year you get to go through all of your items and Marie Kondo yourself and ask if it gives you extreme joy to move it to yet another location. 

We thought we were doing well until we had to do a very close examination of the items we were conveniently tucking into the nooks and crannies of boxes- knickknack contraband to forget about till next time. 

It's interesting to see how much sentimentality plays into it. We could give two flying farts about our Ikea furniture, but yes please, let's keep all the journals from my early 20s. Let's keep the Christmas T-Rex but not our sheets. Some things you're just excited to start over with. My friend Kelsey will report how terrible I am at keeping my art brushes in good shape so it's probably best to do that all over. 

Once we found it we might actually have room we included the pots the Bed Bath and Beyond employee insisted were "investments". Also my rainbow Fiesta plates that were a pandemic purchase to replace the remnants of college dishes. 

It also shows you the core of who you are as a person. Most of our boxes are books, my artwork, board games, and outdoor gear. I think that appalled some of our friends that we valued books that much but it might be one of my favorite things about us as a couple. I mean c'mon, we have a Wedding Anniversary Book Club so it's really not that surprising. 

I think I was also stymied by my intense desire to keep things out of the landfill and its slight step up, Goodwill. There are always failure garbage bags at the end of every move but I did move a lot of material through Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, a garage sale, Art Parts, and just shoving things into the hands of our friends. Some lessons I've learned. 1.) I hate Facebook Marketplace with a burning passion. 2.) Art Parts in Boulder is an amazing place for an art hoarder like me who has grandiose plans for little bits and bobs but never actually gets around to them.  

In the end, we had under 200 cubic feet of items in a laughably large truck.  Sean took a picture and it's barely an eighth of it.