DATELINE: hotel, Oak Ridge TN, 28 March 2006
Entering the home stretch on this strange existence called "no house." It was approximately one year ago that we decided to sell the homestead in RI and make our pilgrimmage to Indiana, going from blue to red (now, instead of enduring taunts for being Packer fans, my kids are chided for having parents who vote Democrat!).
It has been one strange ride to have the vast bulk of our posessions in storage all this time, eating off disposable dishware and more take-out than I care to remember, digging for clean clothes in a giant Tupperware bin, etc.
In short, it's really sucked.
But now the house is ours, the punching out of the punch list begins, the final faux painting ensues, and we are within ten days of moving in.
But as my wife points out, if there is some huge event looming over the family, my usual thing is to bug out for extensive travel. Strange how that works, but when you make your money on the road, you have to hit the road to make money.
So last night, while the others navigated around the maze of boxes we've been packing for about three weeks now, I hopped two commuter jets to Knoxville TN. Today's a day with Oak Ridge National Lab, tomorrow's a day with the Baker Center at U Tenn and their big Churchill Conference.
Then a pit stop at home Wednesday night to grab one child and head to Hawaii for two talks (one regular, one "special"). Yes, we'll hit some beaches and trails while we can, but it won't be the 20th anniversary present I promised my wife (she'll take the house instead), because she felt it was too much to cart the entire family to HI just before the move (the crush of small details is stunning), plus we still have one child in a cast.
So as soon as the second talk is done, Kevin and I will head back east over a couple of days, swap out my car with my father-in-law's pickup, and then the moving will begin: first from apartment and then the PODS begin arriving in sequence.
This will be my April, and I can't wait. Funny to have a trip to Hawaii feel like a pointless delay to something you've been waiting on for a year.
I have a huge pile of stories I want to blog, and I will do my best to do so, but between the travel and the moving and the ongoing column responsibilities, the volume will definitely suffer.
The good news is, though, this is the last month like that, after 11 previous (or really 16 previous if you go all the way back to when I plunged into writing BFA just as the Naval War College let me go).
In terms of stress, the losing-your-job-writing-a-sequel-selling-your-house-starting-a-new-
business-looking-for-a-new-house-but-building-one-instead-and-still-having-to-find-a-rental-
while-you're-profiling-the-Secretary-of-Defense-for-a-national-magazine-then-moving-your-family-
back-to-the-Midwest-then-having-your-new-business-acquired-then-adjusting-to-a-new-
state/schools-then-starting-a-new-job-with-a-new-company-then-making-a-million-decisions-on-a-
new-home-construction-then-having-a-new-book-come-out-then-starting-a-newspaper-column-
and-having-your-start-up-company-chased-by-numerous-potential-acquirers-then-moving-into-your-
new-house-and-switching-schools-and-parish-in-the-process has been just this side of amazing, comparable only to the sixteen months of chemotherapy with our first-born back in 1994-1995.
Having said all that, I can't wait!