Moving Adventures to the Magical Home of Disneyland and the Angels

 If you’ve ever read any of my blogs on travelling or have travelled with me, then you know that I do not travel in a straight line. So, if I’m going to move to a new place, there is no straight line. In fact, there is no line. When this adventure started, there was hope and anticipation. I bought a house. It’s a manufactured home in Anaheim, California. I bought it for my mom and sister. I will live there for a while, and then move forward. The new house is in walking distance of the Angel Stadium and two miles to Disneyland. It sounds magical. The magic that will happen is when I can make the entire disaster of the movers, boxes and boxes of stuff disappear. 

Having lived in an apartment for twenty-one years, I found that material possessions accumulate, and many of them I haven’t seen in years. As I was packing, I found items from times long ago that brought good memories, and from times that do not need my focus nor my attention. I found items that I have no idea why I bought them in the first place. Many of those items were books. As the move progressed, I realized that I want to eliminate objects around me and become less intrigued with physical objects. That, or I’ve become less intrigued to ever move those physical objects ever again. 

Getting boxes from the grocery store, which looked like I was about to build one of those cardboard beds that they have in the Olympic village in Japan, using a plethora of packing tape, getting the tape all messed up around the tape dispenser, checking Facebook, putting objects in the boxes, putting some objects in bags that will be donated, watching the Olympics, and packing the apartment, filled my entire month of July, as we prepared for the movers to arrive. My sister and I have no idea how to pack a house. It looks like the Container Store had an issue with trash bags, which were a last resort when we ran out of boxes and bins. 

The maze we created was fun. We kept painting ourselves in a corner with boxes. If we were standing on the outside of the boxes, we needed something inside the maze of boxes, like chargers to electronics, and I climbed, jumped, twisted, and turned over boxes better than any gymnast in the Olympics. 

As time was running down, my sister and I had about three hours of sleep the night before the movers were supposed to come. Hence the phrase, “supposed to.” Every person who was supposed to set-up our house all came on the same day the movers were “supposed to” come. The movers were “supposed to” come between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM. At 12:15 PM, the movers called and said, “I think we were ‘supposed to’ come to your place and move you today, but when I called earlier, no one was there.” That was wrong because I was available all morning. My phone was always with me. The company claimed they had the wrong number. That’s interesting. I might want to remind them that they called me at 12:15PM on the correct number telling me that they thought they were “supposed to” move me that day. 

The moving company also told me that because they had other appointments, we would have to wait until next week. I’m glad they prioritized other people that they didn’t forget. To be clear, the day the movers were “supposed to” come, my sister and I safely moved my mom into the new house. I had to be creative to get her bed into the new house. I rented a SUV. I named it “Big Mama.” Do you know that everyone on Southern California freeways respects big SUVs? Big Mama got some stuff to the house! I bought an air mattress. I felt like I was camping. 

The moving company decided that they could fit us in their schedule four days later, which meant that I was trying to eliminate stuff from the apartment. When they finally moved us, one of the movers realized how cool our new community is and I think he got a beer from one of our new neighbors. Yes, we live in a friendly community that looks out for every neighbor. 

We are finally in our new place. Boxes surround us and I must try and find what I need, but it is peaceful and is working just fine. I’m back at work, so unpacking will move slower than I want, but at least everyone and everything that I decided to keep is safe and sound. I learned so much from this adventure.

One of the most important lessons I discovered that I must own less things and spend more time with people. People are not replaceable. Time moves and if we are not careful, it passes, and we may realize that we wasted it. Besides, the movers let me help them. I don’t know how they do it for a living. I was exhausted after one day of moving just one house. 

Another lesson I discovered is that memories are good to keep. Moving always brings memories of what has happened in the past, which brings us to a present that is here because of our past and leans into the dreams of the future. We cannot live in the past. We can admire the past with love as we remember the great times we had with family and friends. Any time we have had adventures, it was never because we had the most things but because we had the most experiences with other people. Most of my adventures were shared with many students from youth ministry days, and I wouldn’t trade them for any possession or any other adventure.

I learned that I may have to be in a place that I didn’t think I would live. Moving can be scary because we do not like going to the unknown. I’m a person who claims to thrive on change, but I was hesitant to move to a city two miles from Disneyland and in walking distance of the Angel Stadium. If we do not move, we stay stuck in a place that is not healthy, whether that is a job, a relationship, a house, a city, a service project, or even a community of faith. I should know because I tend to stay too long in those places. I’m learning to move forward. There comes a day when we must move to have a full life. Besides, adventures are built no matter the location but the people with whom we build them. 

In my new place I have discovered the beautiful sunsets and sunrises on my walks. I have discovered the diversity of people, just like we had in Culver City. I discovered the simple part of life, even when we are surrounded by an amusement park and a sports stadium. Time will tell where I will land next in life, but one thing I know for sure, that when I have a notion to move, I need to move. Now, if I could just find everything I need for the present, life would be great.