It snowed this weekend, the very weekend we were moving into our new house. But don’t think we were trudging through four feet of snow carrying boxes with icicles hanging off their corners, our breath freezing into crystaline mists that crash into microscopic symphonies with every step.
We took a load over in the pickup on Friday night to the new house, then spent the evening walking among the riot of the walking dead in the dry cold. The ghosts, the goblins, the sumo wrestlers and fairy princesses. Leah understood the concept of Halloween immediately, and set out with an intensity unmatched by any of the other kids crowding the streets. She was experiencing something completely new and exciting and loving it, dressed as a big hairy lion. She looked like a two foot tall Tina Turner. In the near freezing cold she lasted longer than we did, but we let her drag us around anyways.
On Saturday we were done moving before a single flake fell. It was cold, but the cold was a welcome alternative to sweating as we transfered our storage unit to a fifteen foot yellow box with wheels and a gas pedal to a three car garage. We scraped together the remainder of our apartment, realizing that, as usual, the last items are always the hardest to pack. We balanced seven foot leather sofas over our heads down three flights of stairs, cursing their existence with every downward step - praising their existing as we crashed into them at the end of our move Saturday night.
On Sunday we rested. The warmth and comfort of our home stood out in stark contrast to the rain and snow outside. We nursed our muscles and walked stiffly, avoiding the stairs as Leah tore circles around every open space, more excited than she’s ever been. She knows more than we do that this is our home now.
In the past three years, Carrie and I have lived in four apartments, one condiminium, in parents’ homes, and a little brick house in England, not to mention countless hotels. Words cannot describe the peace and comfort that a new, solid, permanent, and warm home provide. We’re truly looking forwarding to spending as much time here as possible.