Almost There...

It's amazing how quickly a month passes when you are an adult. I had this discussion with a contractor a few weeks ago: time is relative to the life you have lived. When Kyrie turns 8 years old, she will have lived a whole additional lifetime, so it makes more sense for her to yell "BUT THAT'S FOREVER!" when I send her to her room for a 10-minute time-out. I still don't appreciate it, but I understand it. Time for me is tripping by at a steady pace. The days are full and there's always something going on or something to look forward to, so I mostly don't mind the pace of the ticking clock. That is unless I have a house requiring some major remodeling and an entire household to pack up, which I do!
So, our month to remodel and pack is flying by. We have less than two weeks to do our part of the remodeling and pray that the contractors do their part. We have about ten days to finish packing up our house and then actually accomplish the move. I have to stop typing sentences like that, or I'm going to get a little freaked out. Right now, it seems that we vacillate between feeling on the edge of accomplishment to feeling overwhelmed by all that remains undone. Progress feels within our grasp, but our reach is not quite long enough.Tick-tick-tick goes the clock.
Life doesn't stop because you have a long to-do list either. Kyrie still wants to see her friends and there are classes, appointments and programs that were set on the calendar before we ever circled the date for our move. Darren goes to work and Degen fusses over his newest molar. The house is a mess. Let me clarify: both houses are a mess! Everything will wind up in a box or the garbage, so a pile of mail gets ignored and stepping over forgotten crayons just seems easier to do since you're already walking around stacks of boxes anyway.
But there's beautiful sunshine! We've had at least a half dozen picnics in our new backyard and every trip we make to the new house feels more like going home. Our new neighborhood has children near Kyrie's age, and she's already been off to play on a few occasions. One afternoon, Darren pulled Kyrie and a new neighbor friend around the yard in the wagon of the riding lawnmower. If I had ever worried that buying a fixer-upper would stress my marriage, I was wrong. Somehow, I feel closer to Darren than ever before. I love that we share in our toils, in our plans, our aches & pains and whatever comes our way! It's hectic and expensive and work, work, work, but it's ours and that makes it good!