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How to Move to a New Address Without Leaving Your Aging Mind Behind
by Marjorie Dorfman
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 Besides the boxes, you need wrap, wrap and then some more wrap. Whether you choose newspaper, bubble wrap or anything else, prepare for trouble, especially if animals are about and watching your every move. Cats will jump into empty cartons and try to puncture bubble wrap, as it makes a popping sound when they walk upon it. (Dogs can chew it and I can only imagine what birds and other creatures might do.) Cut off sections of the wrap and work with it that way, hoping and praying for the best. I have wrapped almost all of my fragile things as of this writing, but I have not yet dealt with wrapping encounters of the bulky kind. I am sticking to smaller boxes that are easy to handle; for fear that I might drop one and lose the family heirlooms! Stay tuned however, for coming attractions.
Then there’s the sticky matter of selecting a moving company. One of my close friends had merchandise delivered to her new home that did not even belong to her! This is not very encouraging to someone like me who is already nervous about transporting my mother’s precious and very breakable antiques. Will someone else get them? Will I then become the proud owner of someone else’s mother’s antiques or worse, someone else’s mother? Only time will tell. But I can offer a few words of advice that were passed down to me by this same friend who has already purchased four or five homes in her lifetime. Never use a sub-contractor to move your furniture. They don’t care what you think of the job they are doing and don’t have to maintain repeated business. They do not come well recommended, unless you consider fly-by-night a desirable reputation.
 Use reliable bonded movers and shop around, even if you don’t have a great deal of time. None of them are cheap, but there is a great deal of competition and many are reasonable considering the loads they are asked to carry. Get three estimates and use the middle-priced one.
Once you are there, vow never to move again. The experience will be fresh in your mind and if you make that promise to yourself at that moment you will probably never renege on it. Owning a home has many benefits that might not seem visible during the moving process. They may only become clear after the dust has settled, the phones and cable are installed and the movers have left town, so to speak. Remember that whenever you make a mortgage payment, you are building equity for yourself and your family. Owning a home also qualifies you for tax breaks that assist you in dealing with your new (and by this time overwhelming) financial responsibilities, like insurance, real estate taxes and upkeep. Given the freedom, stability and security of owning your home, they are worth it!
Now that the nightmare is almost behind you, take a look at all those boxes that you still have to unpack. What’s that odd shaped sort of green one over there in the corner? Do you remember packing that one and why did it just move an inch or two over to the right? If you think that’s your biggest problem, look out that new living room window of yours. Do you see that strange looking man in the black cape with a hunk of garlic hanging around his neck? He’s waving to you with a fanged down-home, friendly smile. He’s your new neighbor and if you think he’s strange, I’ve heard his family is…well…worse. Maybe its not too late. My house is still available. Are you interested? I can call my broker before 7 tonight. I can’t do it any later because after that  time I can't make any outgoing calls from the asylum!
Did you know . . .
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This is the book that will help:
Steiner's Complete How-To-Move Handbook
by Shari Steiner
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"Inside every older person is a younger person – wondering what the hell happened."
. . . Cora Harvey Armstrong
"No man is ever old enough to know better."
. . . Holbrook Jackson, Ladies Home Journal, 1950
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