I’m currently moving out of my apartment in Keene, the place where I once lived with my ex-husband, came into my own in the days after my divorce, and have lived part-time after meeting and marrying J, dividing my days between Newton and Keene. As much as I’ve appreciated the convenience of having an apartment close to campus where I’ve stayed midweek during the academic year, I’m looking forward to living in one place rather than two. The time is right to make the next step.
Reviewing these pictures, which I used to illustrate a 2004 post about my apartment, I marvel at how clean the place was then. In the early days after my divorce, I spent a lot of time alone in my apartment–just me and the dog–so I took care to keep the place neat and livable. After meeting and marrying J, however, I’ve spent less and less time in Keene, driving in to teach my classes or go to meetings and using my apartment as a proverbial place to hang my hat. Gradually, my apartment in Keene has evolved from being my heart’s home to being a place I stay when I’m not home. Although I still enjoy teaching and walking in Keene, I realize do so now as a visitor rather than a resident. My relationship with the place is now migratory, with Keene being a place where I no longer nest.
At the moment, the place where I pupated is looking downright grubby, with dusty piles of stuff I’m sorting through as I work, bit by bit, to move, donate, or sell an apartment’s worth of stuff. I’ve lived in this apartment since 2003, so I have a lot of history (and a lot of stuff) here. As much as I hate moving and want to be done with sorting, weeding out, packing, and moving things between here and there, it feels good to slough off stuff like an old skin. I’m selling some of my furniture on consignment, I’m giving some to my upstairs neighbor, and I’m taking carload after carload of smaller items to the Salvation Army. It feels good to send these things off to their new life: the grateful recycling of things I no longer need. It’s time for both my stuff and me to move on.
Hoarded Ordinaries 
May 26, 2011 at 10:57 am
Recycled from a tweet last December:
去去去中知 行行行裏覺: 거거거중지 행행행리각. Very roughly: go-go-going is knowledge; move-move-moving is enlightenment. All you do brings some sort of wisdom.
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May 26, 2011 at 11:39 am
I hear you… Moving is always tough. We’ve lived in our place for 20 years now. The thought of having to move from here, and all the disposing that involves, scares me. But I will have to face it one of these days too.
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May 26, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Yes, as loathe as I am to accept “moving wisdom,” there are plenty of lessons. One thing I’m noticing right now is how burdened I feel by all this “stuff,” and wondering how and WHY I accumulated it all.
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May 26, 2011 at 4:13 pm
It’s funny how a space can take on a piece of our energetic self. Intellectually, you know that the space is not a part of you. Yet, there is a certain gravitational pull to location. Perhaps this is part of the longing for permanence we all have.
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May 26, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Goodbye old Life! I love that first pic, though.
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May 26, 2011 at 9:49 pm
I had the same feeling when I moved out of the place my ex and I once lived. It’s a combination of sadness and joy, where you’re leaving behind memories which was once good and starting a new life which is good now. Eventhough they’re just things, they were once a part of your life, a place where you once loved, laughed and cried.
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May 26, 2011 at 9:55 pm
You’ve traveled so far. It’s good to acknowledge.
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May 26, 2011 at 10:39 pm
Happy and smooth moving!
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May 29, 2011 at 9:45 am
Congratulations on your moving! Although it may be melancholy in some circumstances, here it is for the best! It’s always a great opportunity to sort stuff and get rid of unneeded old things. I hope it doesn’t exhaust you.
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May 29, 2011 at 4:59 pm
I love that top photo, it says so much.
Isn’t it strange how places lose their personality when we no longer inhabit them? As if the ‘soul’ we give them flies away when we leave the premises. A little death.
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May 30, 2011 at 6:17 pm
Thanks, everyone, for the comments. I’ve been so focused on The Move, I haven’t been online much to keep up with blogs and blog-comments.
I too love that first picture. My apartment was a tidy little nest when I needed it to be…and as I’ve spent less and less time there, it became clear it was time to “leave the nest,” so to speak. It’s time for someone else to come into their own there.
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Jun 21, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Those photographs take me back too…. I started reading your blog almost from the beginning and these years in Keene I was struggling to write up my PhD dissertation – as you were. But you finished yours in that epic marathon of a few weeks… (with the Krispy Kreme doughnuts – do you remember?) and I didn’t; and still regret it. I have recently dusted it off, however, and hope to complete it – I need to complete it. Wish me luck!
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Jun 23, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Wow, I’d completely forgotten about those Krispy Kreme donuts…but yes, a quick blog-search brings it all back. Maybe that’s why I’ve been keeping a blog for all these years: to remind myself of what I’ve done, what I’ve eaten, and who I’ve been.
Good luck reuniting with your dissertation. I’m sure it will be a big relief to finish it.
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