My wife’s name is “Wendy” which means “wanderer.”

So I blame her…

In our thirteen years of marriage, we have moved 12 times. Or is it 13 now? Who can keep count?

And no, we are not a military family. And no, we didn’t use a moving company. We did all the packing and unpacking ourselves, which is no small feat, especially since my books and her teaching materials fill over half a Ryder moving van all by themselves.

In all of those moves, we have learned a few things.

1. Don’t be a book lover or marry someone who loves books. It just makes moving more difficult. The number of books a person owns is a deal-breaker in love and marriage.
2. When nearing a move, stockpile cardboard boxes. They are worth their weight in gold. To help with this, become best friends with the Grocery Store manager, as he can help you score lots of big banana boxes.
3. Make friends with lots of weight-lifters. In a few of my moves, my only friends were weakling seminarians like me. Most of us have bad backs and cannot help you move.
4. Remember that just as there is a sock heaven, there is a movers heaven also. When you move, things that you had in your previous will somehow magically disappear during the move. You will empty every box in the new place, and the item will not be in any of them. Where did it go? Movers heaven.
5. Your new home will have “quirks.” In one place we moved into, the bathtub was filled with black sludge. In another, two hours after we got there and started unpacking, the city inspector showed up and condemned the house, so we had to pack everything back up and go get a hotel while we figured out what to do next. When these things happen, just laugh and enjoy the ride.

Those are some of the lighthearted things we have learned in our moves. Below are some of the more serious ones.
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