Leaving Geneva

It's been a while between posts and I do apologize for the lack of details in recent weeks. As many of you know, we've been in the midst of a family relocation, returning to Winfield after about 4.5 years away.

The official move and "close" was on July 9th. The days before and after have been nothing short of exhausting. The days leading up to the move were spent packing, packing, cleaning, and packing. In between, we managed to squeeze in a bit of packing.

July 7th (Monday) was a workday -- and also Su's birthday. She was shortchanged a bit on her actual birthday, but we did make it all work out. We turned the 6th (Sunday) into her day, devoting the time to her that we knew wouldn't happen that following day. A morning trip to see KUNG FU PANDA was a special treat for her. We had a lot of fun throughout the day and capped it later with presents and her choice of dinner. For this, she kept the venue close and we walked to our local Applebee's location. All told, it was a very good day.

But by the next day, it was the start of what would become about 1.5 weeks of whirlwind activity. A hectic work day kicked off Monday, followed by the pickup of the U-haul trailer. No, we weren't moving ourselves. We had what proved to be a very hardworking and personable crew doing the dirty work. But what I insist on during every move (and there have been a few...) is moving my own music studio and office. And anyone who has seen the pile of clutter knows that this is no small feat.

So Monday night was spent loading up the U-haul. Tuesday morning, bright and early, the movers arrived. And by 1:30 or so p.m., the house was mostly empty, save for essentials (food, clothing), blow up mattresses, a couple of folding chairs, and a smaller TV to pick up the evening White Sox game. Yes, priorities.

We ate dinner on the family room floor, devouring up veggie dogs, a couple of beers (we had to lighten the load in the U-haul!), and some post-meal treats. Later in the evening, we retreated to our mattresses, completely exhausted and still knowing that there was so much more ahead.

Wednesday started early with the last of the cleaning, packing, and sealing up the house for good. We managed to squeeze items into every last remaining space in the U-haul, the Santa Fe, and the Camry. We pulled away from Geneva for good at approximately 10:15 a.m. We stopped by Mom's house and dropped off Max (the dog) for a while, stopped at a friend's place to drop off Su for a while (no fun for any 6-year old at a house closing) and headed into Winfield. There, we dropped off the trailer in front of the new place and headed for the closing.

By 1:30 p.m., we were finished, with keys in hand and piles of paperwork that basically said that we owe the bank lots and lots of money that I have to pay until I'm about 72 years old. Yikes. That hurt just typing it.

When we arrived back at the house, the movers were there with all of our belongings and promptly started unloading. By about 5:10 p.m., we were officially "in" the house. It was ours. And nothing but piles of boxes and furniture surrounded us.

And we couldn't be happier about the decision.

I took off Thursday to really try to make a serious dent in the unpacking process. Slowly, the place started to truly feel like HOME. By Friday morning, as I prepared for work again, I felt like we had truly reached our destination.

Oh, and the commute was a meager 25 minutes. What a treat!

I will follow up with pix of the house once we have it more presentable for viewing. In the meantime, I'm just sharing a few from the first days of the move process. Some from the loading and the first shots from the outside, as well as looking out into the driveway from the garage on the first rainy morning that followed.