Cross-Country Move to Seattle
- Kristie Snow
- Sep 15, 2017
- 4 min read
You would literally not believe how tired I am.
Let me preface my complaints by explaining that I live with an invisible disability, some permanent damage to my vestibular nerve that results in exhaustion really affecting my life more than it does for most people. Balancing becomes difficult, the simple act of turning around makes me dizzy, and I get incredibly spacey and forget words and names and dates and tasks and and and. This disability was caused by a virus called vestibular neuritis. I could talk for hours about my VN, but not in this blog post. It's just here to help paint the picture of how tired I am.
I haven't slept properly in over two weeks. I'll sleep 3-5 hours at a time, be up for 10-12 hours or more, and then sleep another 3-5 hours. I'm living off of occasional naps and my sleep schedule is SO screwed up, but I just can't seem to fall asleep or stay asleep.
It doesn't help that I found out Monday night we're moving across the country at the end of October.
My husband applied for a transfer within his company months ago. The grand opening of the new store was supposed to be at the beginning of 2018, or so he told me. Turns out it's opening in late November and they want him to be there and begin training on the new state's laws by October 22nd. They literally gave us six weeks notice and pretty much a whole week of that has to be travel time.
I was actually kind of upset. Luckily for us, we don't own our own place and we aren't trapped in a rental agreement or lease of any sort, but what if we were? We had to cancel the Disney World trip we had planned for November. We have essentially five weeks to pack up all our shit and move from Nashville to Seattle, and we're too afraid to book anything as far as Uhaul or other moving expenses because they still haven't let us know yet if we are getting any incentive package, like reimbursement for moving expenses.
But! It's going to be fun. I'm pretty excited. We are going to take our time and do some fun things on the trip. See some sights. Visit my sister in Colorado briefly. Take lots of photos. It'll be great.
As for living in the Seattle area - holy cost of living increase! Obviously we knew we would have to pay more in rent there than here (since living in your parents' basement is virtually free) but even groceries and dining out and gas are a bit more expensive, according to the info the Internet has made available to me.
So this week we are paying off my car and driving to North Carolina to visit my parents. We gave Max's parents the news last night, and they seemed to take it well but his mom has spent most of this morning crying and saying she doesn't want us to move so far away. It's understandable. With her Alzheimer's she can't drive anymore, and it's too far for Max's dad to drive by himself. And she's determined not to fly anymore, so visiting us would be nearly impossible for them. I'm sure my parents were just as upset, I just wasn't around to see their reactions in person. It's going to be hard on everyone, but I'm a firm believer in living while you're young and moving away and having new experiences. This is a big opportunity for us. And the news of Max's sister's pregnancy can soften the blow. They have their first grandchild to look forward to in February.
In the meantime, my anxiety is acting up and my brain is constantly working one hundred miles per minute. I have a dozen To-Do lists scattered around, a heaping pile of things to donate, and more things to sift through. I am trying to plan for every possible scenario. If we get no incentive package, we can rent a trailer and tow it behind my car and take only bed, dresser, and bookshelf (as far as large items). If we get enough of an incentive package, we can afford to ship our large items and most boxes to Seattle ahead of time and travel light in our car. Traveling with our dog, Dingo, we have to plan ahead carefully and make sure she'll be taken care of, as well as ourselves.
It's a lot to think about, and a lot to do, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Plus we are apartment-shopping from nearly 3,000 miles away. I have no idea what to expect and a lot of the reviews are daunting. I've managed to score some good leads though, I think. Now just to see if that incentive package includes reimbursement for move-in fees...
In the meantime, I've gone out to the shed to sort through our belongings we haven't needed here, like kitchen supplies, only to find that the storms we got from Harvey flooded a good portion of our stuff. Our iron, our mixer, our blender, our food processor - all ruined. Cords, prongs and all floating in water. I nearly cried. A lot of our porcelain items are broken, apparently from the move. I saw a giant spider with an egg sac and had to abort mission, so I didn't make it far enough to check on our plates and glasses and toaster and microwave. Max and his dad are both off work on Thursday, so I'll make them go out there with me and help me then.
Pinterest has come in handy for the move. I've been scouring it for moving tips and I think I've come up with a good organizational system. I'll blog about it specifically later on, and keep blogging about the move as we go. I should have some cool stuff to post as we travel.
As always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment! I'd love to chat and hear any advice you may have about long-distance moves!
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