packing.

This is the week that I condense my life into cardboard boxes.  And trashbags.  And suitcases.  And anything else that will hold all my stuff. 

The living room looks like this:



(…and that’s only the beginning.)

Packing is really just one big puzzle.  Or maybe puzzles within a puzzle.  Washing all my clothes in the most efficient way.  Making sure I have everything together.  Fitting it all into as few containers as possible.  Deciding which things I need now and which can wait 3 weeks (my box of non-school books will have to wait).  Cramming as much as possible into our little Ford Taurus. 

When I arrive at school, more puzzles:  Getting all my boxes and bags into my room in as few trips as possible.  Cramming all my clothes into a closet that is inevitably too small, even for my meager wardrobe.  Keeping all my shoes in one place (not so bad if the bed is high enough).  Finding crannies for odds and ends like a miniature toolbox, a sewing kit, and zip-lock bags.  Carving out all the space I need for textbooks and binders.  Organizing my desk.   Showcasing my books and movies.  Filling those blank cinder-block walls with posters, with pictures of people and places I love, with the Words of Life.  And all this I need to do in just half of a room. 

But in the end, I’m just half of the puzzle.  There is a girl hundreds of miles away, compiling the elements that will fill the other half of that small room.  We will create a home, my roommate and I.  I can’t wait to see how our tiny puzzle-home turns out.