Well, we are pretty much all moved in. What is left are those boxes that sit in the garage for the next year when you say “well, we have lived without it for a year, we obviously do not need it.” Then you load it all into a truck and take it to the dump. I have been moving non-stop in some form or another since last Wednesday and today I am taking a break. I am dead tired by the end of they day, I am snapping at people, I am annoyed at my kids laziness, I am irritated at how filthy the old house is, and the sheer work load of moving a family of 7 from a 2500 square foot 4 bedroom 3 bathroom home to a 3500 square foot 5 bedroom 3 bathroom plus full office home is really daunting a task for one woman. Chris is helpful, but he is moving big stuff and obviously can only help Saturday and Sunday. The kids helped until the novelty of the move wore off and now they just want to play with all of their friends who live next door and across the street and around the corner. I think half the student body of their school live witthin a mile of us.
With the kids all living so close, this brings me to my title of this post. I am surrounded by shoes! Dirty tennis shoes, old skate shoes, flip flops, etc. line my front door. And I can tell I have entered the world of higher priced homes full of families who all take their shoes off when entering their humble abodes. These are 11 and 12 year old boys here, who are all removing their shoes promptly upon entering my home. Without being told. It is a different world out here in Mansion Oaks, indeed.
It is sort of surreal living here. I walk around the wide hallways, the spacious living area, the generous kitchen, and it is such a joy to do the menial tasks of cooking and cleaning. We have really come about from our humble beginnings as a couple. When we first got together, when we weren’t living with his parents in their spare room, we had first a 1 bedroom apartment where all the kids slept on the floor. Then a 3 bedroom house was like a castle to us – with his kids in one room and mine in another. Then there was our 4 bedroom income-restricted apartment in which we thought we had struck a jackpot! And now here we are.
Here. We. Are.
