Moving sucks! Every time I do it, it serves as a painful reminder that I seriously need to rethink my dependency on material things.

Saturday started fairly early since the cable guy was coming. The house may be a disaster but all is right in the world as long as the tube is up and running! Had to run to the hardware store to get a plug for the bathtub (I find it’s rather difficult to fill without one). Once all was straightened out with the plumbing, it was back in the truck to pick up a new sofa for the living room.

The next few hours were spent doing a little organizing and unpacking at the new place. A daunting task when you consider that the entire household was thrown into garbage bags and plastic bins in a matter of a few days.

Two lamps were broken in the move and the house has no overhead lighting so a trip to IKEA to pick up cheap floor lamps was a frightening but necessary next step. The mental preparation required to spend any amount of time at IKEA is a subject that I may need to revisit in a future blog.

The entire day culminated with a trip to the city to see Thomas Dolby. He was embarking on his first tour in 15 years and I was excited to get a chance to finally see him live. Getting ready for the show was decidedly unorganized. I couldn’t find half my clothes as they were likely stuffed in a bag somewhere still waiting to be unpacked. I was also having a hard time getting in the mood for a concert with all of this work left undone.

By the time I got to the venue I was exhausted but had managed to change my mindset a bit. As I was starting to cross the street towards the theatre, my roommate stopped dead in her tracks and said, “We don’t have the tickets.”

This was bad news. The doors were going to open in 30 minutes and the tickets were currently stuck with a Nick Rhodes magnet to a refrigerator 30 miles away. Under perfect conditions, the round trip would still take an hour and all the seats would be picked over. The only option was to call in the cavalry……. MOM!

I called my mother and asked if she’s be willing to meet me half way with the tickets and of course, being the Supermom that she is, she agreed. With her help, I was able to drop my roommate off at the venue just in time for her to save us some lovely seats to the left of the stage. The show was fantastic and a nice distraction from the stress of the move.

Sunday was all about moving and unpacking and back pain and tempers flaring and dirt and hunger and exhaustion and broken nails and…… Basically, a really fun filled day!

Like I said, “Moving sucks!”

All my life has revolved around sounds, voices, music. I’ve been playing one musical instrument of another since I was three. I grew up speaking multiple languages. Even when my brother was born deaf, the absence of sound in his life was a glaring reminder of its presence in mine.

Emphasis was always placed, both at home and at school, on making myself heard, speaking up, annunciating, projecting. I sang in choirs, performed in orchestras, took the lead roll in plays, jammed with jazz bands, competed on debate teams, and even rocked out with my own band. Countless hours were devoted to creating and perfecting all the ways I could produce sound, convey music, and utilize my voice.

Yet in all of that time, I never figured out how to have my own voice. Never once did I get the message, “Hey! If you need something, you need to ask for it.” In fact, somehow I missed the idea completely that I should even have the right to ask for what I need. When it came to personal needs and wants, I learned to be compliant and undemanding. To ask for my needs to be met was to be selfish, disrespectful, or just plain silly. Boy, I really lost the plot on that one.

Now I’m stuck going to the shrink every week to get my hippiechick, earthchild doctor to gently bludgeon that one lesson into my thick skull. Crap! Let me tell you. That is one expensive lesson to have missed the first time around.