Shuffle your feet

I hate moving. I despise it with every fiber of my being. I hate the sorting, the pressure to purge, the heart wrenching decisions about what hits the donation/recycling/trash bins and what makes the move to the next apartment. The packing sucks, the compartmentalizing of lives lived in a space. It's an upsetting process.

We have to move. We have been in this apartment for 4 years and we have to leave it. Our landlords' father passed away and her mother can't live alone, so they need our apartment for her. I understand fully that family comes first, of course, so I hold no ill will for our landlords. It's not their first choice of situations for us to move out and the mom to move in. Our landlords are not qualified caregivers and they also aren't keen on losing the income from our rent, but what needs to be done must be done.

The thought of leaving our neighborhood is too much to bear, so we've decided that we need to stay close. We've been looking for a month, we've seen 8 places now. Last night was the first time we saw one that we loved without hesitation. It's only one block from our place now, it's in a brownstone, pet-friendly, rent within our budget, a bedroom for Jude, a brand new kitchen, a working fireplace (!), and a new bathroom. It also has lots of original details from when the bldg was built in the 1920s. Gorgeous. We put in an application on the spot last night. I hope we get the place. We're up against the 3 other people who were seeing it after us last night, so my fingers are crossed that we made a good enough impression on the landlord when we met with him.

Is moving this stressful for everyone? I feel like my life is about to be uprooted... and if we get this place we'll only be moving one block away!