I’ve been away from Mind Your Body due to “a moving experience.” And it doesn’t get any easier, or any more fun. (Who said moving was “fun”, anyway? Where is that person?)
Here I am, doing it again.
How many times have you moved? I remember moving from the town of Spruce Pine, N. C. to Charlotte—back then, the latter was “the Big City.” It was so exciting, and I was nine, ready to conquer the brave, new world. That was then and this is now.
I think this is the twelfth time—I can count five times in New Zealand alone in a period of six years. I’m only moving “across town” here in Orange County, but that doesn’t lighten the load any more than if I was moving back to the East Coast.
The last time I moved stateside was 12 years ago. Now I’m spending time unwrapping boxes that haven’t been touched in more than a decade. I put my hand into each one very gingerly, lest I end up shaking hands with a spider that’s not too happy about having his humble abode shaken and turned upside down—a little bit like my world.
Boxing day
The silverfish have been busy, too, munching on the paper protecting glasses, dishes, and “keepsakes” that have been better kept out of sight. Inspecting each one and asking myself: “Stay?” or “Go?” is excruciating. I know: It would be easier to just toss all this stuff away without giving myself a moment to re-instigate an emotional attachment.
You know this feeling, too. You’re staring at piles—make that, towers—of boxes and paper, wishing the recycle truck would come by your door with “room service” of the outgoing kind. I’m just trying to find the big blue bin that’s supposed to be on my cul-de-sac, but is apparently MIA.
Moving and dementia
I was already stressing enough today until I eyed this study out of the U. K., Univ. of Southampton. “Stressful events such as moving house or the death of a loved one could lead people to develop dementia, researchers have suggested.
Experts have been investigating the role stress plays in causing Alzheimer’s, and claim that certain ‘traumatic experiences’ are factors in developing the condition.”
Uh-oh: I’ve moved how many times? This outing was especially overwhelming—or maybe it’s just that my boomer stress level is maxed out from lack of relocation appreciation.
This baby boomer is on the move again—eager to find my “home sweet home.” Maybe…this is it.