So, it happened… our California trip got too busy and I missed a couple of days of blogging. I knew it was a possibility, but now we’re home again and about to finish up with the restoration tour. We have one more major tour stop and that will take place next week.
It seems like the past year has gone by both really quickly and really slowly at the same time. When I realize that the year of restoration is almost up, I can hardly believe it. It seems like only yesterday that I was moving back in and we were putting the pieces of our lives back together. At the same time, it seems like some of this happened so long ago that it just blends in with all the rest of our past that we share.
So much has changed and so much has remained the same. The changes have been good and so very necessary. They haven’t been changes for the sake of change, but they have severed the very roots of some deep-seated issues that we have battled, both as individuals and as a married couple, for much of our lives. What has remained the same is the fact that we are still the same couple who married way back when, we still have the same memories and history from that marriage, and we are still creating the same legacy, although I believe it will now be even stronger than it would have been, had all of this not taken place.
The two days that we spent moving into our new loft were among the most blessed of all the restoration tour. When my wife moved into the old loft, it began the most gut-wrenching, heart-tearing episode I’ve ever been through. The restoration of that phase of our marriage meant as much to me as any part could have. We had dreamed of having a loft apartment for years, but I never thought that we would end up with one the way that we did.
We spent quite a bit of time looking when we decided to move, and we considered numerous options. When we walked through the one that is now ours, we both felt it, but it was my wife who leaned over and whispered, “I think this is the one.” That was all I needed to hear and I told the agent we would take it. Then, of course, there was the agonized waiting to see if we would be approved, but we were and we decided to move in early, since it was ready.
Our home
We reserved the moving truck, recruited people to help, and everything was all set. The morning before, we went to a downtown breakfast cafe that we really enjoy and had a leisurely breakfast. Then we went to the utility company to have the power switched over to the new place. It sounds silly, but I can’t tell you what a joy it was, and how much it meant to my heart when we stood at the same counter where she had set up utilities only in her name less than a year before and I heard her say, “my husband” when the lady asked her if anyone else would be living at the new address.
We picked up the keys together and started taking some things over in the car that afternoon and evening. We mainly wanted to get in and take some measurements and kind of get an idea of where things would go when we brought the furniture the next day. We also brought some of the very fragile things and items that might not do well in the moving truck.
The next morning, we got the truck and did the main moving. It went really quickly and we were pretty much done by lunch time. My wife is amazing at unpacking and organizing, and she almost had everything put away where it belonged by the time the truck was empty. She just stayed in the loft, told everyone where to put things as they came in the door, and started opening boxes and putting things up.
After it was all wrapped up and I had taken the truck back, I picked up a bottle of Champagne and some strawberries, the same things we had shared when she moved into the old loft. This time, there was no hidden heartbreak underneath the smile, and no fear of what the future would look like. Champagne has always been a celebratory drink, and we had so much to celebrate and be thankful for.
The Restoration Tour 