7:50am started the journey — myself, Wife, Daughter, Dog, and a Ford Explorer packed to its fullest. GPS leads a path that we have never driven before.
Two days prior, two strangers turned my 20+ years four-bedroom house into boxes. One day prior, 4 strong men vanished those boxes into a big truck. Weeks before, we started making frequent trips to Goodwill, local library, recycling center, or the dump.
A friend came by to bid farewell. She moved five years ago to a faraway place. When the big truck left, she said she cried uncontrollably in that empty house. Sadness is the emotion caused by a big lost. What do you lose when you move away from a place? You lose that warm feeling that you knew where everything is, where your friends are, and how to get anything done. You knew that it will take you a long time, if ever, to regain them in the new place.
The severing of ties to a house is like a limb from the body. It is not just a place you raised the family. It is the anchor to many emotional investments: friendships, remodeling, tears, sweats, and blood. Memories have permeated into those walls like roots grabbing onto the earth. Re-potting can be necessary to the growth, but it hurts.
The rented SUV rolled over 900 miles of asphalt before we arrived the the two-bedroom in this city. Dog kept on marking the new territory, as I tried to learn the neighborhood. This is as primal as it can be.
A week later, three strangers came in a big truck and turned my apartment into a sea of boxes. The boxes will disappear into this new home: my new home.