The Packing Doldrums

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woman packing up garage
(Stephenie Wade/DVIDS)

Military moves are a completely unique experience. I can’t think of anything else that makes you so busy and so bored at the exact same time.

I spent the last two days racing around my house figuring out what, exactly constitutes an “opened liquid.” (What about that never used bottle of lotion that isn't exactly sealed either …?) And what I want to haul with us rather than letting them pack.

You’ve been there, you know.

Fast forward to this morning. I spent two hours in a sheer panic throwing stuff into our off-limits “no pack” room, followed immediately by me sitting on the couch waiting for the packers to arrive. Now that they are packing I am continuing my sitting job … but every 10 minutes or so I suddenly remember something and have to jump up and dash away, lest, for example, they pack the trash (again).

This is driving me batty!

The other thing that kills me is the unknowns. When will they finish packing? When will they show up to load it? Will we really manage to pull off a door-to-door move? How much of our stuff will they break? Will we end up with another five-foot steel pole that is not ours but someone is, surely, missing? When, exactly, will they show up with our stuff at our next duty station? Will I again be reduced to cooking eggs in an aluminum pan on the stove?

We try to keep things upbeat and positive here, but there is no question that there are parts of the military move that can be a real plague. Feel free to share your biggest moving pet peeve with us and, if you see one you’ve found a solution for, feel free to share.

Now -- back to waiting I go.

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