Moving is always exhausting and always disorienting, and Ben and I have both had some pretty epic moves over the past couple years (Pennsylvania to Oregon in only a car, anyone?). However, this particular move was the biggest yet I think, because it's officially the first time that we've moved to a place we officially have together, and also the first time we've really combined all our stuff that's been hiding in basements and storage.
Since we were only moving across the state, I was down-playing everything in my head. How stressful could it really be?? Well, then we discovered our new apartment had been vacated hours before we arrived, and hadn't been thoroughly deep cleaned in what seems like 15 years, and we had to go to Michigan to get Ben's furniture, and then the huge heavy couch wouldn't fit through the door so we had to give it away, and then it turned out we had SO. MUCH. KITCHEN. STUFF. and nowhere to put it, etc etc so I honestly have no idea where the past two weeks have gone, other than into a vortex of cleaning and unpacking and giving Target all my money.
But the hard work has been paying off and we have curtains now. And a new couch. So it's really starting to feel like home. Ben has been working hard to get his new classroom ready for next week and busy with orientation stuff, and I've been in this strange place where I freak out because I don't have a job but I'm also glad I have time to work on our home and cook good food and explore our new neighborhood. We're pretty far from the Loop so it hardly feels like we're in a big city at all, until I drive around and hit the awesome six-way intersections that are EVERYWHERE in Chicago because of the awesome one-ways and diagonal streets.
But despite the stress and uncertainty that seems endless I am extremely happy to be here in this place, physically and mentally, and in life in general. Moving has been a great distraction from wedding planning, but I guess I should get back on that bandwagon now that we're only a month and a half away. And I know I'll find a job when the time is right. Geographically we are now equidistant from both sides of our family and have lots of friends and family in the city as well, so I am excited to begin this new huge chapter. Best of all, I'm starting to realize that Ben and I will proooobably never have to be long-distance again, and that feels almost too good to be true.