She’s Buying Stairway to Heaven

We are all moved in and (most) of the boxes are unpacked, ripped, flattened and subdued into orderly piles for the recycling truck that comes next week. Life is approximating some sort of order again, although I don’t yet have a routine for anything except hitting the toggle on the coffee maker before going out for THAT DOG’s morning walk. But it’s a start!

We love the new house, and our new neighborhood. I’m overwhelmed by waves of thankfulness as I wrestle with thousands of decisions about where things should go. I have no strong opinion about where the can opener or the flashlight should reside, but I’ve learned this week that unless I care a little bit, I have no hope of ever finding them again. Woven through all of this is an awareness that these are mighty fine problems to have, and I’m grateful.

One of the big surprises about this first week in our new house has been how the focus on all of these small decisions, coupled with the physicality of moving (and shoveling snow from Sunday’s storm, and figuring out how to get the lock off of the garage when it’s frozen) has slowed down the constant analysis that usually occupies my mind.

Most of the time, I’m thinking. I love pondering ideas, looking for connections, asking God to show me things about how the world works. (One of my most frequent prayers, when I see something I don’t understand, is “God, what are you doing there?” Often, this will lead to a whole string of new ideas I hadn’t considered.) Being “extra think-y in my brain parts” as my friend Lynette would say – is usually fun. It leads to blog posts and new chapters written, ideas for talks or conversations. But in seasons when life is extra complicated, it can be exhausting, like a machine I can’t turn off. That’s how I felt in the days right before we moved.

This week has been just the opposite. I’ve been able to focus on the practicalities without going all “big picture.” My spiritual perspective has been a pretty consistent heartbeat of “Thanks, God!” along with a few prayers of “Could You please show me where we put the extension cord/Kylie’s leash/my deodorant?” It’s been an interesting change to be so very “here” and not very “out there” at all. A needed vacation that left me excited to get back to my “normal,” rejuvenated and refreshed, and ready to blog again.

Other fun discoveries this week, as we undid some of the older boxes that had been shoved away since 2009:

-We packed a bottle of whiskey in with our shower curtain. I don’t know where we got it (We are wine & beer people.) But our bathroom is PARTY READY!

-We own approximately 1,000 wash clothes, used over the years to pack approximately 1,000 fragile items. Our faces will be endlessly CLEAN. Which will be good I guess, in case we drool after downing all that whiskey.

-When we put our bed up on the frame, it exceeds THAT DOG’s vertical jump by several inches. We are in serious danger of becoming THOSE PEOPLE who have a stairway for their dog.