i know. i'm blushing.

I’ve got this Excel spreadsheet on my desktop titled “moving list.” It’s a huge, exhaustive list of all the things we needed to do before we could move. It was long and daunting and usually overwhelming. During the past two months the file was nearly always open, waiting for me to check something else off the list.

Tonight I’m sitting here in my living room next to a dozen glowing tea lights in front of my ridiculously bushy (and free, and undecorated) Christmas tree. I’m here with my laptop on the floor, because we have to wait another four days before our belongings arrive, and for the first time in over a week, I noticed that Excel file on my desktop.

I opened the list to have a look and it suddenly struck me: the list is complete.

I’m amazed. Somehow we managed to get everything done/sold/cleaned/packed, get ourselves to Seattle, and get an apartment. Now we’re here. It almost feels like it was simple. How can that be? It felt so complicated at the time.

But here right now, it’s so peaceful. …Goodnight. Merry Christmas.

My incredibly generous and spontaneous sister surprised me yesterday with the best gift ever: a bunch of Christmas music waiting for me to pick it up at my local sheet music store. New piano music! One of my favorite things ever!

The thing that’s killing me: just minutes before she called to tell me about this gift, the movers finished tying down my piano in the storage POD outside my house.

I’m honestly considering untying the piano and playing right there in the middle of the street.

All I have to say is, we better find an apartment in Washington FAST, because I’ve got to get that piano unloaded before Christmas. Otherwise—and I don’t care what anyone says—I’ll be playing Christmas music loud and proud during whatever month we finally get an apartment.

I’ve got this list telling me I should be packing. There’s a big mound of empty boxes next to me, waiting to be filled. I’ve stacked them up into a (somewhat) orderly pile so they won’t be in our way. Maybe I shouldn’t have; they’re a little too easy to ignore when they’re out of the way.

Our stuff gets picked up and shipped to Washington this Friday. We hit the road Saturday morning. I’ve gone over the schedule so many times that it’s almost lost its realness. It’s as if I’m just telling a story.

I can’t imagine what it’s going to feel like to arrive in our new city. Our little home in Salt Lake City will be behind us for good.