The Move - Moving Day Has Arrived! (Part 2 of 3)

October 10, 2019

I tossed and turned all night before popping up at 6am, deciding that this was a reasonable hour to begin moving around. Even if he could hear me, up an hour before my typical work day began was not too suspicious, was it? He didn't know I was off work today...did he? Why I was so paranoid, I don't know. I had no reason to suspect that he knew what I had planned.

I was absent-mindedly packing some out-of-sight items from my closet when I heard his feet hit the basement steps. I shoved the box I was packing into the closet and jumped into my swivel chair. The fact that this would likely be my last time in the office chair previously belonging to my late father-in-law, who I loved dearly, was not lost on me. I heard him enter the laundry area from his access door and verbally exclaim delight that the clothing was already dried. Oh yeah. I had thrown a load of his clothes into the dryer the night before. I planned to take the washer and dryer today, and he had a load in the wash...I'm not a monster.🙃😜

I held my breath, preparing for him to break through the partition from the laundry area into my office/bedroom/living space/box stash area, but nope, I heard his steps recede, and figured he was leaving. Also nope. I opened the office door to the bathroom and there he was, (I can explain the house layout later if I must, but for now work with me). We hadn't been really speaking much these days, but he knew that I was leaving for a week for Orlando with my family the next day and taking our son. I figured that must have been the catalyst behind him deciding to say goodbye. After thanking me for drying his clothes he leaned in and plopped a kiss on my lips before what was happening could even register.

Did this man just....? Ew.

He grinned goofily and then said, "Mm. And I want another one before you leave tomorrow," and walked off. Like it was normal. Like I hadn't told him that even the thought of him touching me made me uneasy weeks ago. Thank God I had decided not to disassemble my computer until after he left for work, in case he happened to come to my room. My intuition was right. He would have noticed and asked questions, it could have set my whole day back. And I had to leave. Today.

My mother, the true mother hen she is, was just as eager as I was to get this move underway, if not more. So much so, that when I was confident my husband was truly gone and not returning for something he left, as had happened a time or two, I ventured outside to begin loading my personal vehicle. The plan was to call my mom in a few minutes and let her know she could head my way. But while unlocking my Escape, I happened to glance up and notice that driving past my street was a vehicle that looked a lot like my mother's...I headed inside to grab a box and by the time I came out, that vehicle and my mother were in the driveway in full ninja-mode. My sister from another mister, a friend of a friend, my little sister, and the MVP of the day, my police officer cousin all came through for the impromptu weekday move.

The movers, bless their hearts, thought they would be able to take all day and milk their hourly fee. They weren't prepared for the amount of help they were getting to move it along. In my mind I kept telling myself that we had to be gone by 2p. If nothing else, he's never home before 2p on auction day, his "guaranteed" money making day of the week in his locksmith business.

I took what I wanted, but left so much more, both good and bad. I left behind our bedroom furniture, struggles, and incompatibility. I left all the furniture and belongings I'd given my bonus daughter as well as the growth of our relationship and my right to continue speaking to her. I left some of my son's clothing and toys to have when his dad would keep him. I left behind some of his innocence, some of his childhood. I left.

It wasn't truly real to me until I pulled up to my son's school. I searched for so long for a house in this school district and I truly loved the principal and the programs. I signed into the office and walked into a classroom of eager kindergarteners, my own 5 year old excitedly eyeballing me, oblivious to what was going on and my stomach knotted up...

I held his little hand and opened the car door, carefully watching his eyes widen at the sight of belongings stuffed around his seat. "Why is there so much stuff in the car, mom," he asked. "Because we are moving into another house today. It's going to be a new adventure," I replied. "Cool! I like adventures with you, mom." And just like that, the knots in my stomach untied. An adventure for sure.

Especially upon receiving the first irate message from my husband.