Look What's Lurking

By Cyndi Seidler
09/27/06

"Are we having fun yet?" my sister keeps asking me whenever she calls to include me in the details of her relocation adventures. I know I must reassure her that "we" are indeed having fun, although I think I'd be having more fun if it was all over.

It was, after all, my idea she move home to California to be closer to family again, so I'm duty-bound to transplant my sister from the Midwest as safely and painlessly as possible. First thing she had to do, of course, was to get rid of some stuff. By "stuff," I mean junk and other paraphernalia she shouldn't be toting around with her anymore.

Like any keepsaker, she had plenty. We're talking every doodad and thingamajig ever given to her, as if they were precious religious artifacts.

Getting ready for a garage sale was the beginning of her moving adventure. I figure she must have the perseverance of an old gold-miner looking for gold in a used-up cavern. And that was probably just looking through her stuff to see what she was willing to part with.

When it came down to it, her weekend's garage sale kept her stressed to the unlimited boundaries of infinity. And it was only the first round in a series of sales she has planned before her move. As it turned out, the cash she counted at the end of the day gave her the excitement (or incentive) to move forward with another sale.

How sweet it is.

Since she was so gung-ho to start selling off her stuff, I figure I'd better find her a place to move to. So, I did what any Internet-savvy person would do: I searched for rental houses within a decent-mile radius of where I live. We won't talk about what "decent" means, but let's just say I wanted her here but not close enough to where she's coming to borrow a cup of sugar every day.

The Internet search hit the jackpot. I found a brand new 4-bedroom 2-story home within her price range, and it was to-die-for. As it turned out, it was 80 miles away, but I figure she shouldn't mind making the commute to my place since I went to all this trouble.

I emailed her pictures, fax'd the lease, and she sent a deposit to the landlord. That was that; another task completed in the relocation project.

My sister is starting to think like me in some ways now. She initiated the idea of shipping boxes of her belongings to her friend near the area where she's moving to. Very clever planning, as she won't have as much to load up in a truck on moving day. This kind of thinking takes her out of the realm of a crazed moving person to a logical planner, but I won't tell her that. I think she's enjoying the crazed aspect of all this.

Today she called me about the closest airports to her, the high-desert lakes and vacation spots, and other features of her new area. I already had the answer to her first question, and was proud to announce that, yes, there was a Starbucks right down the hill from her new place.

Talk about planning and research! This girl is with it! I couldn't plan a move better than this if I put my whole life into it!

Well, I realize that her whole life is about this move right now. And not all of us have the luxury of doing that because "life" gets in our way. But, as far as I'm concerned, when I have to move, guess who I'm going to call?

Copyright 2006 Cyndi Seidler. All Rights Reserved.

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