It’s been a crazy, emotional, and tiring past couple of days. And we haven’t even left yet. They do say moving is one of the most stressful events in life, and they were not kidding. It’s brutal, guys.

Yesterday was my last day at work. I’ve been with the company for five and a half years and love my job, so leaving it willingly is bittersweet. I’ll still be working for them, but on a contract basis, so I’m no longer an official employee. This has led to a few panicky moments over the past few weeks, but Tara has been supportive, reminding me that we are doing this in order to have a better, happier life. I have no doubt things will work out for us in the long run. At least I have the comfort of a guaranteed income that will help ease our transition to a brand new life in the Midwest.

They threw me a farewell party yesterday, and because my boss knows me well, he planned a Bloody Mary bar. One of the owners of the company gave a very heartfelt speech about how much my contributions have been appreciated, and really, it was perfect. I had an opportunity to say goodbye to the coworkers I have known for so many years, many of whom I consider friends now. I swear, I miss them already.

Leaving would be so much easier if you never had to say goodbye.

We picked up the U-Haul after work, and started loading it early this morning. Tara hired two helpers for two hours, and that proved to be a godsend; they hauled most of our stuff down three flights of stairs and loaded it into the truck for us. Smartest $140 we’ve ever spent! Unfortunately, we had a garage full of stuff to load ourselves, and we quickly discovered we didn’t have enough room in the U-Haul. I knew we should have gone for the 26′ truck! This led to a desperation purge in which we were forced to part ways with a lot of things we’d been holding onto forever. Thankfully the dumpster next to our garage was empty, because I ended up filling that sucker to overflowing. And we’ll still have to make a run to the dump tomorrow before we leave, most likely.

By mid-afternoon things were feeling hopeless; the garage was still pretty full and we were rapidly running out of room in the U-Haul. “This is impossible,” I said to Tara, and it certainly felt that way at the time. I reached a low point then, feeling more dejected than ever, and wished that we’d been able to afford the $7,000 the professional movers had quoted us. Things would have been so much easier that way. Tara felt it too, and actually suggested we delay our move by a day, rent a trailer and hitch for her pickup, and load the extra items in there. I was not down for that at all – we have a schedule to keep, after all; there are motel reservations and appointments next week – so I dug deeply, searching for whatever inner reserves of strength I could find, and somehow we powered through. Determined to make everything fit come hell or high water, I channeled my inner Taurus and, through a combination of sweat, perseverance, and stubbornness, we did it! Finally finished loading the truck shortly after 5:00. Whew! It felt like we were playing a real-life game of Tetris for eight hours.

Like playing Tetris. We filled every square inch of this truck!

I am currently parked on a comfy chair in my parents’ living room. We are staying here overnight, and then tomorrow morning we’ve got cleaning to do, breakfast with Audrey, our final walk-through in the apartment, and then we have a couple of errands to run. We have to return our cable equipment, pick up the trailer for the U-Haul, and hook up the Mazda.

And then we get to drive seven hours to Spokane. With a cat who is 100% back to normal. Don’t get me wrong – I’m thrilled that Sydney is her old self again – but now I have to worry about her freaking out in the backseat.

Hey, in case you haven’t heard: moving is hard AF. And next Monday we get to do this all over again, only in reverse. Ugh. We’d better be happy in Rapid City, because I don’t want to move again anytime soon. Like, ever.

Because I want to chronicle every moment of this journey, I plan to blog from the road. So I’ll check in tomorrow from Spokane.

This is it! The culmination of a solid year’s worth of planning. We are both ready to go!!

Countdown: 1 Day!