75 Comments

So excited for you to get here!

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Mazel tov on the move! Where are you going?

We’ve moved probably six or seven times in the past decade. When people ask, I say, I’m a Jew - we’re used to moving!

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Love your response. Haha. The next stop in our personal diaspora will be the east coast— MA or NH or RI.

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New England is beautiful. Hope you can wait until Spring.

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Congrats on two years! My wife and I did the Marie Kondo thing once. She cried for an entire weekend. It did not bring her joy.

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Oh Marie. I tried her method. How is a winter hat supposed to bring one joy? If it keeps me warm and matches my sweater I’m good. I feel for the wifey.

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I view moving as an opportunity to purge. However, I don't plan to move again, so it is a blessing and a curse that our house has so much storage. Every item that I bring into the house will someday have to be cleaned out by my kids. So I try to be very choosy about added possessions, but with limited success. Sorry kids.

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Decisions decisions.

I think new homes should be built with more closet space than rooms.

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Ah, packing up to move....

I loved your friend's advice, so transferrable - my sister's house is on the market and is so full of sh-t. I tried to get her to box up everything but nope.

Good luck with it all!

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Thx, June. Good luck to sis. It's a tough feat.

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I’ll miss you at our Seattle meet-ups, but glad to still have you on Substack!

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Thx, Jen. Me too. So great to get to know you in person.

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Enjoy the paring down, the sorting, the shifting as you make room for a grand new chapter!

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Exactly! Love your positive take. We are making room for something wonderful.

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Congratulations on two years, Carissa! Thanks for always being so entertaining and supportive since we discovered each other here. Best of luck with the everything involving the move.

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Thx, Chris. I'm so glad Ms. Fay put you on my radar.

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Good luck with the sale and relocation.

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Thx, Mark. 🙏🏼

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We on the other coast eagerly await your arrival. Unless, of course, we move yet again!

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Oh boy. Don't ya love the up-in-the-air way of life? We will move to the east-- unless hubby gets a kick butt job somewhere else first.

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Congratulations on two years, and your big move, Carissa! xo

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Thx, Sandra. 🥰🙏

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Yes I do spring cleaning, but I do it all the time. My nickname is The Chukker. We have family pictures and collectibles all over. But when my family had to sell my parents home we were told to “stage” the home. That meant removing everything personal. I agree with Beth I don’t want my children burdened with my un wanted stuff. Thank you. Congratulations on 2 years, and 1200 and counting. Love your writing. Good luck for many more years of writing. ❤️

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Thx so much, Rose. I love seeing you here.

The Chukker? Any regrets on chuckage?

As I said to Beth it’s a brave person who makes it easy on loved ones left behind. 🙏

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I only regret it when my children say to me “Mom why did you throw that out?” But there’s no turning back. Trust me I save things that are most precious to me.

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Spring cleaning DEFINITELY! I love a good spring cleaning. But, what you're doing is next level. I did the same thing two years ago. Why is it we only move certain furniture to give the space behind it a really good cleaning once a decade? or when we're moving? I've made a point now, to try to get into the back wall of the very heavy beds at least once or twice a year. Which means coordinating the cleaning with hubby. Who has to do the heavy lifting.

Happy Substack-a-versary. I was digging through emails and found an old one from when I subscribed to you back in the day when you were Aging Gratefully. ;) I've loved watching you evolve in this space. Here's to our fellow 2-year-ers! Our co-hort. All the best with the move. xo

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That’s an entire essay— the back wall behind the bed! The dust, dead spiders, legos— when the kids were little. That could be a great children’s book actually.

Thank you. Nice how our stacks have evolved. I love seeing fellow authors here who started around the same time as me and we are still here, supporting one another.

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1. Do you spring clean? - YASSSSSS! Thanks to my Mom doing it a lot when we were kids. I've done it every time I've moved, too.

2. Do you have a family wall? Or table? - At my parents house. It's more like, the Family Hallway. LOL I don't at my own place. Don't know if/when that's going to ever happen.

3. Thoughts about anything. - Moving sucks. I don't envy you. Putting Good Move Vibes into the universe for you. 😉

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Thx, Ororo.

Family hallway! Haha. Family console table?

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I know, right? In their second house, the hallway leading to the two guest rooms and bathroom is filled with family pics on the wall. That's why I call it the Family Hallway. LOL

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Hallway is a good spot. We once had a family hallway 3 houses ago.

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I used to have family walls but when we moved 3 years ago it was to be temporary so the family walks are still in boxes cause we thought we’d find a farm fast. Fast forward and we’re half occupying this place and now determined to get that forever farm and burn all the boxes!! 🤭

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Sounds like a fab plan! Praying you find that farm! And when you unwrap those pics it will be like seeing them for the first time. 🥰

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You've even managed to make packing and moving funny, slog that it is. I picture Jeffrey like my brother-in-law. In a recent travel photo from my sis, their family of five is sprawled out virtually unencumbered on transit seats ... except my BIL, pictured in a reflection of a window. He's over six feet tall, and he's got luggage on his lap and the floor between his legs piled up to his handsome face. Haha! *That's* why the others look so comfortable! Good man, Jeffrey. Good man, my BIL. ❤️

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Please share this photo! That’s hilarious. 🤣

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I’ll see if I can get permission. :-)

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