It's a Dog's Life

MOVING
From Annie's Perspective

I just don't get it.  It seems to me that we just did this.  This time last week, things were going just fine...I got up, went outside, spending all morning following my mom around so she won't forget to take me for a ride when the kids go to those places they won't let me inside.  I don't mind sitting in the car.  It is better than being left at home, or even worse, the backyard!  I'm a civilized girl.  I belong where the people are. I spend the afternoon following mom from room to room, taking naps from time to time in all my favorite spots until it is time to pick up the kids.  As soon as she puts her shoes on, I have to stay on her heels so she won't forget that I want to go too.  In the evening, I don't stray too far from the kitchen so I can be there to grab anything that might hit the floor.  I try to be nonchalant about it so I don't get kicked out.  I make sure and finish off the breakfast that I was given earlier in the day so that I can bark like I'm starving for the dinner that I will leave part of until morning. Then I'm off to bed.  I do my best to guard the kids for awhile but end up sleeping on my own bed in the living room. You know, it's not a bad life.

Then a few days ago, out came the boxes.  I hate them.  They get in the way and take up all the good places to lay down.  I have to keep moving to stay out of the way.  Then they start filling them up with all the stuff, all over the house.  The tape dispenser is so noisy. It scares me.  The furniture is getting pushed around and then disappearing altogether.  It is freaky!  I have to stay near people so they don't forget that I'm here.  I don't want to get left behind when this place is completely empty, which is happening fast.  This is not my first move you know! So what if I lay in the doorway and people keep having to tell me to move out of the way? Yeah, I did roll my eyes a few times and let out more than a few annoyed sighs.  A dog has to do what a dog has to do. 

What, you are not taking me on the next twenty car trips?  I don't care that there isn't an inch of space to sit in.  Why do the kids get to go and not me?  It isn't fair!  You saved space for them when you loaded the car!  I see how you are.  I don't believe it,  you're putting me in the backyard instead?

Oh, I get to go this time.  Lucky me!  So this is where you're putting all the stuff.  Did you bring my bed, my bowl, my food?  Ah, you did.  I guess this isn't such a bad place.  Although, I had just gotten used to the other one.  Ok, I will go to bed and guard the kids.  I hope we're here to stay for awhile and I hope we can get rid of these boxes.  I hate them.  What?  You still have to unpack them?  They're going to be here for awhile.  I'll just have to follow you around for the next few weeks to make sure that it all gets done properly.  You'll think that I'm napping, but I've got my eyes on you. You're rearranging the furniture again?  Make up your mind already!

Yes!...You're putting your shoes on...I'm ready to go.  Please take me this time...please take me this time...Please take me!

Time for a change...AGAIN?

With boxes scattered around me, EVERYWHERE, I'm wondering (yet, again)when will life ever be normal? Then I realize, maybe THIS is normal...organized chaos.  This is what a messy life looks like.  Moving is just part of it.

Today I will meet with the kindergarten teacher who's class I recently pulled my daughter out of to homeschool her for the rest of the year.  Messy.  Without going into too many details, it just wasn't the environment we were hoping for her first school experience to be.  It has been a very difficult first semester for us and this has been a difficult decision to come to. I haven't slept much, wrestling with the issues of the situation and trying to coming up with a good solution.  It has been one of those parenting challenges that come up all the time in homes everywhere.  One where any decision that is made could have lasting consequences, but not making a decision is not an option.  When none of the choices seemed all that great, I just wanted one that I could feel peace about. I've been praying for an opportunity to show grace while also giving protection.  I think it is going to work out that way.  My daughter doesn't really understand what's going on.  This is confusing for her and we're doing our best to make it work and help her through it.  Her main concern is still getting to see her friends of course, so I'm trying to make that happen when we can.

And yes, over the weekend, we moved. AGAIN.  Sort of.  We still have a bunch of stuff to organize and move from the old house to this new one.  It already feels more like a nest than a resort vacation home with all of our stuff in it to me, even with the boxes scattered everywhere and the feeling that I'll never find anything again.  Our new garage is loaded to the rafters with all the stuff we need to let loose of, so that the next move...may it be a few years away...won't be as overwhelming as this one (or the last).  It is hard to part with things (and people, really) that have been important in the past, or have the potential to be useful in the future.  I keep trying to repurpose things and make them usable again.  Sometimes, it is okay to let them go.  Except, that one thing...oh and that one...and that one.

You may recall that less than a year ago we moved from our beloved Los Alamos to Santa Fe.  At that time we took on a higher rent than we were comfortable with in order to be in the neighborhood we were interested in planting our lives and our church.  It was, at that time, the only house available to rent when we needed it.  Living there gave us a fantastic experience, meeting people we otherwise would not know now.  However, we knew that when our lease was up we would need to find something else, with a little more comfortable rent.  So here we are, in a different house in the same general area with all our stuff piled around.  It will get sorted and it will get put into a usable order...hopefully soon for my sanity's sake.  I will find the knives and other utensils that somehow ended up in the garage instead of the kitchen, and the countless other things that I don't even know are misplaced yet.  (I think there are some missing potatoes, somewhere.  Frightening!) We will get the other house emptied completely and cleaned up.  It is just the process of it that is so messy. 

Oh, and to top it off, next week is the science fair for our third grader.  Jamie asked me a few weeks ago when the science fair was.  I told him the dates and he said exactly what I was really thinking,  "Well that's crappy timing!"  I had to remind him that they didn't consult our schedule and purposefully put the science fair in the middle of our move.  We've He's finished the experiment.  Now we I just need to locate the materials in the cardboard jungle and we HE needs to finish the presentation.  It will get done somehow.

Ah Normal, whoever you are, I am still searching for you.  Don't lose hope.  I will find you, and in doing so, maybe I'll find the knives, the potatoes (preferably sooner than later), the science board and myself as well.