I’ve moved, a LOT; just ask my friend Lynne who told me once to “Stop moving. I’ve erased your addressed so many times, I’ve worn a hole in the address book.”  All those moves happened pretty much when was in my twenties and thirties.  By the time I’d hit forty, I was in one place for a longer than any other. 

I don’t like to move, mind you.  I do not enjoy packing and unpacking boxes, climbing up and down and up and down stairs, making the address change at the post office, making sure my employer knows where to send my W2’s; it’s all just so time-consuming and tedious.  And when you move that often there is no way to use up those address labels that you get from various fundraising efforts, right?!

Then there’s the question of who will help me move.  In my younger days it was whoever I could get who had a truck or big car.  With the promise of food and or beer it was an easy sell; especially if it was a cross-town move versus an inter-state one.

One of the best movers in the biz is my brother Billy.  Over the years he’s moved me both across town and across state borders–several times. Anyone who knows him understands that there is a method to the madness. “Empty space is the enemy!” was a common refrain (sometimes more like a command) on move days.  When the biggest vehicle to make the move is a Ford Festiva, you can’t afford any daylight between boxes if you wanted the move to be done in one day.

I’m writing about this today because it’s COLD outside.  Unless you live under a rock in the United States, you know that much of the country is experiencing the newly dubbed “polar vortex”.  It’s common in New England to be cold on January 7th.  We know what it means to be cold.  But when it’s below zero, we get a little nutsy-potsy.

But, back to the moving…if memory serves correctly, my moves historically have taken place in the winter.  More specifically, January.  My brother Billy has moved me at least 4 of those times.  It was never warm.  No January thaw on my moving days.  Nope, always cold or snowy or sleety, or something that would make a lesser man turn tail and run, fast and far.

I know that you will read another post about my brother before this 365 commitment is complete. Today though, he gets the big shout-out for always being there when I needed him; patient for the most part and supportive always.  Thanks, Billy!  Love you!