During the last three or four weeks my husband and I have dismantled two beds and have arranged them and one additional bed frame along with two dressers, a nightstand, a couple chairs and some random furniture oddments compounded with a gazillion boxes which we packed & taped shut in one bedroom of our home. Then we closed that door.

We have packed another gazillion file boxes full of . . . Drum roll please . . . Files.  They have been parked in our kitchen, hugging one of the walls. We have taken down and carefully packed more family pictures than any reasonable person could possibly accumulate. We have emptied closets, drawers, cupboards, and filled suitcases, cartons, and garbage cans. We have hit rock bottom and taken naps. We have bought stock in Bengay when we discovered that all of our muscles were talking back to us. Our mental health is out to lunch. We can’t afford, nor would it be wise, to restock the cupboard that held the wines and spirits.

Extraordinary feats of micro-engineering, within small cartons, have been interrupted and put on hold, time and again, when documents had to be signed, initialed, dated, sworn to and then driven to the post office to be mailed with return receipts. Movers, Mortgage Loan Officers, as well as Realtors and Insurance Agents in two states, have proved indispensable, helpful, informative, worrisome, and nerve-wracking and on one occasion drove this woman to despair.   Every time that we try to take a break another obstacle occurs.

On the other hand, amazing acts of kindness and generosity have been showered on us. Deliveries of packing materials, boxes, and meals, along with kind words, encouragement, prayers, hugs, quietly humorous or wickedly amusing stories, cartoons, have been delivered to lift us up. Our dwarf fig tree kindly produced its first season of delicious fruit. We have had calls and emails from family and dear friends, along with an upcoming dinner invitation. We have been delighted with the photography prowess of our Realtor that has captured our home in ways that we hope will provide us with a buyer. Open Houses have been scheduled for people to view our home. A few helpful friends along with my thoughtful step-daughter have shared the real estate link of our home on their Facebook pages. A High School friend from the Mid West emailed the listing of our house to her cousins who are realtors in town. Our rather amazing pastor faithfully preached another spot-on sermon, addressing the texts of the day, in ways that were helpful and seemed to speak to our weary circumstances.

Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night, got up and typed this narrative to update my friends and family and faithful readers of the sometimes scary adventure that is taking place in our little corner of Arizona. Having come nearly to the end of the page, and as it is still dark outside, I am going to see if sleep will visit me again.

Update:  I did get another couple hours of sleep.  I would ask you to continue to send prayers up to heaven and good vibes to Arizona.  We would be very grateful if you would keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  As we learned just this morning, this cross-country moving adventure is far from over!