As I’ve mentioned, the move to this point has been largely planning: checklists, spreadsheets, reservations, and budgets. With the number of very important things going on for us this summer, we have tried to make sure each of them gets the attention they deserve. Most of what we’ve done thus far has been squeezed in between the milestone projects and events that have slowly been put in our rear-view mirror.
In the next two weeks, three of those milestones will be behind us. And that means, it’s time to crank things up.
In a few hours Meg bolts out to Iowa to pick up Sophia after her finals are done (milestone #1), heading back to St. Charles on Saturday. But Soap will get tossed in the front door with barely a “welcome home,” before Meg has to dash to O’Hare to pick me up after my flight gets in mid-afternoon. I’ll be pulling a regular work day from Chicago on Monday, attending Thomas’ last jazz band concert at STC East High School on Monday night (milestone #2) with Meg and my parents and perhaps Sophia too, then flying back to Portland on Tuesday afternoon.
But the rest of the time at home — you know… apart from the smoochin’ — will be moving tasks. Sort this, pack that, pitch the other thing. Basement, closets, garage, and our storage unit down the road. Making phone calls, talking to the U-Haul people, asking the vet about what the cats need before we put them on a plane.
But wait, there’s more! Believe it or not, I am flying BACK to Chicago the following Saturday to attend Thomas’ graduation (milestone #3) over Memorial Day weekend. I couldn’t coax my office into letting me work remotely for an entire week, so my parents were extraordinarily generous in making sure I could attend both of these special events.
And once again, apart from graduation, there will be more sorting and packing, more hauling and heaving, more phone calls and arrangements.
That’s the Illinois end of things. The Oregon end has its own challenges. We need a bigger apartment, and we want very much to stay in the complex that I’m in now. But this leasing company rents exclusively on month-to-month contracts, which means there is no way for them to know when people are moving out! Complicating things further, they don’t have a waiting list. So I basically have to call and check on availability of larger apartments pretty much, like, every day. I’m going to start that next week.
Oh, and I mentioned the cats. They’re flying out here. On their own. Meg’s going to drop them at O’Hare, they are going to yowl and cry and carry on, and probably barf in their cages at least once, before I pick them up at PDX. Yes, you can do this. It’s Alaska Air’s “PetStreak” program, promising Fur-st Class travel (*groan*) for your four-legged friends.
Doing this will allow us to get the fuzzy little twerps out here shortly after I move into the new apartment. Both Meg and I are looking forward to this: for Meg it means two fewer issues to deal with every day; and I will finally have some company here after being in Portland by myself all this time.
But it isn’t sitting well with Thomas — who has become so close with our orange tabby, Ferris, that he is threatening to sneak him off to live with him in the dorm in the fall. With Ferris’ propensity for adventure and mischief, I’m sure he would love that. But much to our son’s chagrin, it’s not happening.
So, we’ve caught you up on the next 6 weeks. The move takes place 9 weeks after that. There is much, much more to be done…
Meg Currell 
Tim–did you know you have a secret note waiting for you at Powell’s? It’s at the Blue Room info desk. Ask an employee there to give it to you. It’s been waiting here for a while.