The Entertainment Center

Well, it's time to start packing up all our crap for the big move. In my head it is very easy. Grab everything, one thing at a time, and throw it into a box. Maybe, I'll have thirty boxes to move, maybe a little more. It won't be that hard. Wrong! On Saturday afternoon I spent three hours removing things from the 'entertainment center' in the living room and putting them in boxes. Lots of books stacked in that thing. Heavy, dusty, unread books. Honestly, there were a number of books on the shelf that still had the receipt sticking out of them. I think they were books Mark had bought in Chicago, then schlepped home to Florida, that we will now have to move to Chicago. Anyway, I devised a system to make it all easier. On the dining room table I put the things we would pack and take to Chicago. Over on the table in the sunroom I stacked the things that we would sell in a yard sale. Finally, I moved a trash can close at hand so that I could toss those things that did not fit the other two categories. At the end of three hours, most of which I spent negotiating with Mark, I had three boxes filled with books, tchotchkes, and various things that we apparently cannot live without. Over in the sunroom was a respectable pile of things that Mark thinks we can get big bucks for. And over on the other side of the room sat the trash can, still empty. The worst part is, I am not even half done removing all the crap from the 'entertainment center'. The more I sit here and think about just how difficult this move is going to be, the more depressed I get. As Mark told me Saturday while I was moping in the living room, I am too old for this shit. That of course has not stopped him from making sure we take as much stuff as possible to Chicago with us. Seriously, if it were up to me, the trash can would be full, in fact I'd order a dumpster. Then I'd have one big yard sale, and whatever I failed to sell I would donate. Or maybe I'd just pile it at the curb with a big sign that read "Free! Shit that I don't want!", and then drive away with my dogs, a couple of suitcases, and if he behaves, Mark.