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"When the boxes are gone and you've cleaned up the mess
You'll make a home of the house that was just an address"


That's what I was thinking as movers spent two days packing and loading my belongings onto a truck for its journey to New York. Now, I know I didn't take all my furniture and donated and sold a bunch of clothes ... but I still feel like I have a lot of "stuff." I'm thankful to have stuff, but I took out the drawing my new landlord made for me of my new place and have been trying to figure out what will go where. Let's just say I'll have to figure it out when I get there. I think in the end my folks and I determined it will all fit and that the bedroom will probably be a little tight.


As the movers unpack my stuff later this week at my new casa in New York I'll look at all my "stuff" and remember all the good memories that comes with what I've accumulated over the years. I'll remember the dozens of books that will line my bookshelf and how each one holds a special place in my heart. I'll see my artwork and remember the arguments had over some of the pieces and one piece that always makes me smile. I'll take out my kitchen tools and remember the guacamole I made when I lived in New Mexico.


I'll look around and also notice some of my old "stuff" will look a little new. The matress is the same matress I've had since my journey to New York began in Green Bay. This time though, the matress will be dressed up in a new duvet, new sheets and new pillows. My lovely red couch will be short a piece as to make it small enough to fit my new place. My candles that I burned in Chicago and filled my apartment with the smell of "wood burning fireplaces" will be replaced with red candles that smell like ... umm ... I don't remember!! They smell good though!


Old mixed with new will be my new home in New York. I know that when all the boxes are gone and I've started cleaning up the mess... my new address will start to feel like a home ... thanks to my friends, family and the belongings that will make that tree and brownstone lined block my new home. What will be the most important, though, are the new memories that will be made in that new home and that I know I always have a home to go home to in Chicago.