In Between Befores and Afters: During the Great Move In

This is day one of the move - Chaos Light.
I couldn't even bring myself to photograph it most of the week as that
would have preserved the memory.

I am midway through getting my boyfriend moved into my, now our (!!!), home. As promised, I am now going to share the "during" of this major life experience.

Here's the thing I've learned: we are two different people, and we like to do a lot of things differently.

Okay, I already knew that, but moving in together really solidifies that fact. It's an excellent reminder, as we combine our lives, that we are not just going to skip off into life together, holding hands and tossing daisies in the air. There are things that we like to do differently, and that has consequences.

The main consequence right now is annoyance. Annoyance, and stress.

You see, I hate moving. Moving is chaos. When you move, you can only keep everything organized and accessible for so many days. Before long, you can't walk through your living room, your radio is behind a stack of boxes, your kitchen counters are covered in random things that have no home, and you piled boxes on top of the one with your socks in it.

Because of this I like to move and unpack as quickly as humanly possible. I'd rather stay up way too late for a few days getting everything set up so that I can relax and have a home again.

He, on the other hand, likes to move at a leisurely pace. He likes to pack things up a little bit at a time, stopping when he gets tired. The chaos does not bother him and the giant task does not loom over his head, but he does shut down if he gets overtired from working too much or too late in one day.

So basically, he's felt like I'm forcing him to work way too much and cram it all in with no breaks, and I've felt like it's been a slow, torturous process that has taken forever.

I've decided that it's incredibly beneficial to go through a stressful, annoying experience with your partner as you are making a significant commitment to each other. I've spent the past week mostly pretty annoyed - both with life and with him - which has really caused me to think hard about whether I actually want to do this or not.

Turns out, I do. Good to know!

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