Akiva & I have been moving for months now. In January, we emptied the storage unit largely by ourselves. It took a good number of trips in the van. Martin went back for a few large items that couldn’t be carried with a child seat in the van.

After storage was emptied, on snowy winter mornings, I would pack a box, put it on the cargo sled, & I would pull the sled & Akiva to school while Iris walked to school. After dropping Iris off, I would pull Akiva and the box through the woods, up the hill to the yellow house, drop off the box, then pull Akiva home. I moved many, many boxes this way.

Long after spring began, when the snow finally melted, I had to get a bit creative in order to get my near-daily moving workout. I used the wagon for a few loads, then I left the wagon up at the Yellow House. I packed my large backpacks full of things, then I left the backpacks & things at the Yellow House. I used the cargo bike for a few loads but, ultimately, it wasn’t terribly convenient, so I left the cargo bike up at the Yellow House.

At the beginning of June, I started packing boxes to bring up with the car. The car! That’s serious! Today was playroom moving day. I didn’t take a photo with the car packed fully, tho it would certainly have been more impressive. I stopped at this point just to look at the car and wonder how many times these items have been moved and how many more they could move, should they live a good life. I remember when the slide and the play kitchen were unpacked in Syracuse, New York when I was four years old, the summer of 1978. They haven’t moved much since then, it’s true. Once, about 35 years later, to Shelburne; once to Waterville; and now just up the street. But they’re good toys. They like to be played with.

Akiva is excited to go to school next year to get away from all this moving and renovating stuff. He wants to play with kids.