Packing and hauling

At this point, I am absolutely down to the wire and trying to accomplish everything last minute as I usually do. My mom came by and helped me out a lot. I cannot thank her enough. We put everything I wanted to keep in boxes and bins, lugged them down my lethal staircase, rented a U-Haul cargo van and drove it to my parents' house on Staten Island. A warehouse worth of boxes are now sitting in my childhood bedroom for storage.

Of course, now that I just got home from that whole ordeal, I'm seeing things that I didn't do. I suppose I'll be running around like a nutcase tomorrow trying to ship things last minute.

The carriers for the cats came. Since the sedatives for animals can sometimes kill them, we are going a more holistic route. There are a lot of natural calming remedies and we are using 3 of them. Before you take animals on a plane, you have to get a certificate of health from the vet. I took them both to the vet on Monday, one at 9AM and the other at 2PM since I had only one carrier and don't own a car. The first cat was a nightmare. Sophie yowled the whole way and peed all over the carrier, which dripped onto me. Luckily, Rocky was a lot better although he looked pitiful in the carrier. I am not looking forward to getting them on the plane.

It's very weird to see your entire life packed up into little boxes as though it was nothing but a bunch of junk that can be tossed in the back of a truck. In going through everything, I found all my old journals, ticket stubs, pictures, and even a greeting card I bought when I was 16 for no one just because I thought it was really sweet. I never thought I'd see that card again and now it's at the bottom of a plastic bin, collecting dust in a room I left behind.

Tomorrow will be spent bringing useful things to Goodwill and recycling/throwing everything else out. My landlord is going to have to remove the couch but otherwise, I'll handle it on my own. This whole process has been bittersweet. It was sad to see the entire life I will be leaving behind but it was nice to see so many things I forgot I even had and to be reminded of all the memories I associated with them.

Here is a picture of my street in Brooklyn. It is my favorite street in the whole world and I always said that if I ever became rich, I'd own one of these houses.