The Beginning of the End....Before the Next Beginning?

I've been running on system overload, since...oh, I'd say just about exactly when we returned from Chapel Hill last month, having purchased a house. What followed in the ensuing weeks can only be described as a furious flurry of phone calls and emails. There was scanning and sending and signing of...stuff...to facilitate such thrilling endeavors as...getting the loan process underway (ooh, too titillating, I know)...and reviewing the Inspection Report..(Contractor Legalese...what a rush...) and finally, overnight-express-mailing the required deposit check so that it would arrive by 5 p.m. on the deadline when the Due Diligence period expired (Lawyer/Banker intrigue...don't ask me...)

In the midst of this drama, I've been doing my best to keep up with my full-time job. (You know, the one where I perform such mind-boggling feats as..."grocery shopping"...so the ravenous hordes--um, "my family"--can continue to chow down in the manner to which they've become accustomed. Somehow, no matter what else is going on, they never seem to lose their desire for meals...sigh...) Oh, and my part-time gig--the one where I dress up like a (semi) professional, go to my place of employment, interact with other adults, and actually get paid.

So, suffice it to say that certain things have been back-burnered in my brain lately...like the fact that tomorrow will be my very last day at the community college where I've worked since September 2011. Gulp. I can't even begin to wrap my head around that particular piece of information yet, but just the acknowledgment of it opened a floodgate of other realizations...like the fact that I just enjoyed my final appointment with the massage therapist who's been treating me regularly since my rotator-cuff-repair surgery in 2007. (Holy guacamole, that's a lotta...muscle manipulation...) And Derek just had his last official yearly checkup with the pediatrician who has been watching over him since literally the day he was born. (For the curious, that would be: birth stats--5 pounds, 18-1/4 inches...age 14--133 pounds, 5 feet, 9-1/4 inches. And yes, that does seem ridiculous...but remember what I said about the whole "love of eating" thing?)

I suppose, in all the excitement of relocating to a brand new place, and looking forward to lots of "firsts", I forgot that we'd experience the bittersweet feeling of many "lasts" as well. And then, right on cue, the moving company I hired on Monday sent over the promised shipment of packing supplies:

And, well, I'm completely, constitutionally unable...at the very core of my being ...to ignore the siren call of empty boxes, begging--nay, exhorting me personally by name--to be filled. So while the Male Posse was at soccer practice, I got down to business and stuffed a few of those suckers. It was gratifying...even if the tribe wailed and protested upon returning home: "Oh nooooo, she's already packing! What if we neeeeeedddd that stuff?" (Um, yeah, you let me know if you have an insatiable urge to use your Winter comforter anytime soon...) Anyway, they needn't work themselves into a lather just yet, as this is the sum total of my progress so far:

That's right, baby--3 cartons down...dozens more to go? Whew, I'm exhausted already. I'd better take a nice, long break...and maybe have a fortifying snack...and rehydrate...before I attempt any more of the crazy moving preparations. After all, this pile-o'-fragile-items (all pictures and photo albums) is what I've also gathered...to stow in my car and deliver when I go back to North Carolina for the settlement meeting. Anyone know what kind of treats to leave out, when one wants to attract....House...Moving...Elves? Wait, I'll bet they just love (ready?) PACKING PEANUTS! Ha! Okay...forget the sustenance...clearly I've crossed over into the realm of "loopy", and I'm going to bed! More boxes in the morning!