Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Finally

Chana has moved.

From Washburn to Bayfield. Nine miles. Our households are combined.

It became a reality on December 19, 10 busy months since our February 19 wedding on Lake Superior.

From February to early June, she completed her teaching in Washburn, and retired. There was no chance to do any real moving during that four months. June through October brought the tourist season. So, with guests in the house...again, no time to combine households, except for her terrific reorganizing of the B&B basement to create "people" space and better storage. And during this time we had a garage built, where none had been before. It was finished in August, and we love it...but it occupied so much time.

In November and December we decided not to take guests, and devote those months to the priority of combining households. That meant Chana needed to sort and pack an incredible amount of accumulated treasures, plus countless trips for both of us, back and forth between Washburn and Bayfield, with trunks full of small boxes. In addition there was painting of the basement floors, stripping old carpet, prepping walls, painting and re-carpeting one of the four guest rooms...now our bedroom.

With holiday family commitments dead ahead, we rented a van and recruited friends to help move everything possible on December 17--a huge success. Two days later, the items too big to handle--freezer, refrigerator, washer, dryer and a few very special pieces of furniture--received the TLC of professional movers.

And that was it.

At 11 a.m. on December 19--exactly 10 months from the date and time of our wedding--Chana signed the bill and the movers said goodbye. We celebrated with Makers Mark and a fire in the yard where we'll build a fire pit--using the grate from Chana's fire pit in Washburn.

Still ahead: finding a place for the contents of at least some of those boxes.

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