Moving In...

Two weeks ago, Josh and I finally moved in to our permanent housing, a duplex on a golf course in one of the nicest resorts on Guam, and we absolutely love it! I hope to have the house “picture-ready” soon, but before that I’d like to share my move-in experience to benefit any rookie movers out there (such as me!). After hearing many horror stories from friends, family, and even complete strangers, I steeled myself for a complicated, inconvenient, and possibly just plain awful move experience. Now that our move is complete, I can’t say that I have any horror stories to share; all I have to offer is the realistic definition of a key moving term—full unpack.

One of the benefits of the military moving process is that the government covers a “full unpack” by the movers if you choose to accept it. In my naïve mind, it would have been ridiculous to reject the opportunity to have someone else deal with boxes, packing paper, and the inevitable (and quite painful!) paper cuts that are associated with unpacking. So, I gratefully accepted the privilege of having someone else unpack all of our belongings. In my move counseling, I was given the impression that the movers would unpack our boxes, remove the paper and the boxes, and place all items on shelves and counters and in closets. I also envisioned cheery workers… Well, reality isn’t always quite as good as its preceding dreams! I cannot say my workers were cheery about the prospect of unpacking all of my boxes, but then again, I wouldn’t have been either! I can live with grumpy movers. My greatest surprise came when I realized that my move counselors had been more than optimistic when they told me the movers would put items on shelves and in closets. This was categorically not so! Our clothes, towels, sheets, etc. were all piled on our bed, creating a mountain so high that it inevitably toppled over into a mess of hangers and knotted linen. This was a surprise, but at least once the mountain fell we could access our bed to sleep in it. (You have to look for the silver lining!) The kitchen, however, rendered me completely speechless! True to their instructions, the movers did place items on the counter. Once they ran out of space, instead of utilizing the cabinet shelves, they utilized the floor. Thus, my kitchen was rather like a minefield! Somehow, during my move counseling, I got the impression (perhaps I created it myself) that a full unpack greatly reduces the chaos of a move. I can now say from experience that this is purely wishful thinking! A full unpack removes very little chaos from the moving process; in fact, it has the potential to overwhelm you when you see everything you own at once on the floor or on your bed, thereby creating more chaos. What a full unpack does do, is create a very effective way to rid yourself of the box and paper clutter of a move. Moving is synonymous with chaos, it’s as simple as that. Now don’t get me wrong, despite my surprise, I appreciated the movers unpacking our boxes this time, and I will appreciate the movers unpacking our boxes after our next move, as well. However, during our future moves, I will simply have a more realistic idea of what to expect…no horror stories (I hope!), but complete and utter chaos, no matter what!