It’s upon us. The moving truck will be dropped off tomorrow and the LDS Moving Co. (aka guys from our church) will arrive Saturday morning to load up our stuff (and there is so much STUFF!). The upside of using ABF to move, rather than U-Haul (which has served for all our many other moves) is that I don’t have to drive to Wichita with four kids in the car all by myself while hubby drives the truck. The downside is that we’re without our stuff for a week.

Moving is so stressful — not just for me, but for the kids. A’s collapsed in tears many many times over the littlest things. Yesterday, it was because we sold our extra refrigerator. I deal with it by craving (and caving in occasionally) cake. Note to self: next time, I should make a moving cake and eat a bit every day rather than inhaling the store-bought stuff in desperation. I’ve given up (only temporarily) on reading anything serious (I was trying to get through a follow-up on Crunchy Cons) in favor of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I’d rather be reading the sixth, but we haven’t gotten it in paperback yet, and the hardback copy is packed. It’s amazing what Harry can do to make the boxes disappear, if only temporarily.

I think the stress isn’t just the act of moving but also the facing of something new. I know I’ll love Wichita (I loved it when I visited last month), but still there’s so much that’s new: church, school, friends, stores. And learning where things are: a grocery store that has all the things we need and like, the library, a bank…

Still, I have hopes for Kansas. Hopes that hubby will really like this job, and that he’ll get tenure and we can stop moving. Hopes that we’ll find good friends there (but we’ve always managed in the past). Hopes that we’ll find a house of our own that we can afford.

One last story: when I was 11, my family moved from Utah to Michigan. On the way, we drove through Kansas, which, through an 11-year-old’s eyes, was very flat and very boring. My mom, because she is my mother, played John Denver’s “Matthew” as we drove into the state. We were listening to the song the other day as we drove to Nauvoo (one of the many things we’ve been trying to do since we’re moving away from here), and the chorus struck me (and hubby’s miffed that I got around to writing my post first, so I get to use the song!):

Joy was just the thing he was raised on
Love was just a way to live and die
Gold was just he windy Kansas wheat field
Blue was just the Kansas summer sky

So, here’s to Kansas! See y’all there.