It's surreal to move back to Texas more than a couple of months ago. It's even more surreal that we had to due to this in the middle of a pandemic. Living in a pandemic is an odd experience because of all the days and weeks of home messes with your perception of time. The workweek and weekends all blur together and the routines become a bit too much autopilot.
Long story short, we have moved successfully with two dogs and 1-year-old baby. Do I ever want to do this again? Hell no. Will I have to do it again soon? Most definitely. Z's fellowship is only 1 year so unless he finds a job in the same city, we most likely will need to do another major move, but let's not think about that right now.
Trying to pack a 2,300 sqft house where we lived for 6 years was more than what I thought we could handle. Of course, in the end, we did manage to pack everything on our own (and also sold or donated soooo much stuff) until the last hour before the trailer was picked up, but it involved a lot of sweats, some tears, and exhaustion. While we did hire movers to load and had it delivered to TX (6 years ago, we drove a UHaul truck from Houston to St. Louis but with far less stuff), we simply couldn't afford to hire a company to do the packing as well so we opted to do that ourselves again. And no, on the contrary to the public's assumption, residents/fellows are doctors but not loaded with money and these moves are not paid by the hospital...it is all out of pocket but I digress.
Packing and trying to sell furniture online, and still working full-time from home all while caring for a 1-year-old baby who needs routine and structure was beyond overwhelming. Zoe and the dogs definitely sensed the drastic changes and the stress around them. I felt like I was failing at all facets of life - particularly as a mother and employee - June was the epitome of 'survival' mode.
June also meant farewell to many of our friends and colleagues-turned-friends as well as clearing up my office of 6 years at Webster University. I am very fortunate enough to be able to keep my job (before the pandemic started) despite the move so my working capacity is unchanged except for the location change having an office to working from home full-time.
Z also graduated from his residency program later that month, concluding our official stint in St. Louis. I regret that we didn't really take many pictures from that celebratory occasion (we were running late to the gathering due to packing and loading running behind the schedule), but the happiness and pride were all there.
Our 800-mile trek to Houston began on June 22nd and was split into 3 days to make our drive each day more manageable for Zoe. Our destinations were Memphis, TN, and then Dallas, TX, before making it to our destination. We did go to restaurants (but for outdoor seating only) and stayed at hotels; overall we felt safe even though some risks had to be taken. Zoe and the dogs handled the long drive like champs so we had a pleasant road trip overall.
Once we got to Houston, getting our stuff went through some bumps and frustrations, but we did eventually have everything into our new place by late Friday night. Due to both Z and I need to be back on work the following Monday, we practically stayed up through the weekend to unpack and get settled as much as possible.
Despite downsizing a lot, we still had to come up with some clever ways to have all of our furniture laid in a reasonable way. There are definitely some lifestyle changes we are getting used to (no yard, much smaller space, etc.), but we are thankful for finding a place that is very close to Z's work and able to reduce to having one car only. Transporting our groceries can get a little creative these days and the dogs (and really the whole family) surely miss having a yard, but we are well settled and happy. My remote working life is in full swing and since July, I have a part-time nanny who helps me to take care of Zoe. We opted to keep Zoe out of daycare, for now, to keep her exposure to Covid-19 at a minimum so her nanny has been an absolute life savior for me to resemble some type of balance between work and life within the same space.
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