Boxes.

We arrived to our new life in July. I don't even know how to describe July. It was a mess of boxes and travel and time with some of our favorite people... and chaos. In August, Dan was still hoping to travel... I needed to stay put for a bit. So he took the girls to Disney, and I stayed here to get us settled. I unpacked some of the boxes, spent time with some friends, binge watched some shows, and enjoyed our new view.

School started for the girls. Dan still had some time off and we worked on unpacking the basement. During this time, I ended up with a jacked up back, a bizarrely jacked up eye, and general frustration that things weren't getting unpacked as quickly as I'd hoped.  The boxes persisted.  

A storm threatened our house. We boarded up and headed west. I already had a trip booked, so I carried on as usual. Dan and the girls stayed with our friends. The boxes stayed behind. 

The storm came and went- we only lost a few shingles. We had one final week of Dan being off- so down in the basement we spent time. We also went to brunch. And watched TV. And cooked. And still... boxes.

Dan has just started his new job. They girls are getting in to routines at school. I've just started to make friends in our neighborhood. We've had people over for dinner. We've been to playdates and cookouts. We've figured out our grocery store layouts. We have our favorite local restaurants. We see the water daily.

And here's where we are with the boxes... The way our new house is laid out, we have as much space as we did in our Winston house, it's just is designed completely different. Currently, the basement is unfinished. To have the amount of space we'd like to use, we need to have the basement finished. Our goal is to do that by Christmas. The problem with that is that we are still floor to ceiling boxes in parts of the basement. Until we have furniture in place, we can't unpack the boxes. Until the boxes are moved, the furniture can't be in place. 

People have told us that it took them a year- or longer- to get fully unpacked. Others have told us that they still have boxes from their moves years ago that they still haven't unpacked them. UGH. While that makes me feel "normal"... it also stresses me out that it could take us that long to be fully settled.

These boxes are making me crazy. Everyone has words to share: "If you haven't used it yet, do you need it?" "Shouldn't you throw half of that away anyway?" "Take your time! The boxes will still be there when you're ready!" All of those statements come from well- meaning people. And I get it... but we've spent MONTHS getting rid of things and it feels like it's never going to end.

This was my view this morning right before I driving to our bus stop. I see this loveliness daily. Even Monday- when I immediately went back to bed because I'd had an asthma attack. Even on days without the boxes unpacked. I'm trying to remind myself that this is my view... not the stacks of boxes. And when you hear a great cheer coming in the days to come, it will mean we have the boxes unpacked. I'm not sure how soon that will happen, but until then I will tend to the boxes when I'm able, and enjoy our view when I'm not.