Order for Substitutional Service

Well, moving plans have been formulated, and small amounts of packing have begun. I started on Saturday by carefully removing my Beatles posters*. Usually the first thing to go up, and the last to be taken down I took them down to assess the damage to the wall behind them (it was minimal), and now my room looks bare. I think it might finally be sinking in that we are moving.

There is a long list of things that still need to be accomplished before we can move, however, I have already gotten all of our utilities cancelled or transferred, signed the lease and am hoping to do our walk through and get the keys tonight. There just seems like so much to do, and not nearly enough time in which to do it all.

Life seems to complicate itself by making for a stressful/busy week at work. I really want to not be working this week and would rather focus on getting everything together and moved, but sadly that isn’t possible. I am trying to stay focused on the work at hand, but my mind keeps drifting to remembering to clean the oven and not forget any of our tiny pink pillows for the couch. But I am hoping that I can get enough done in the evenings to make our Saturday move easy.

There feels like there is so much to tell you all, but my mind is having a hard time focusing on one thing, so here is a moving story from a little bit ago.

*The Beatles posters I possess are old. Well, as old as my love of the Beatles, which is now going on its 11th year. When I moved to college I debated for quite a long while about whether or not to bring my posters with me. After a lot of thought, I figured I didn’t want to have them get wrecked, so I kept them up at my house in Brooks. Every Christmas and summer I was greeted by the half smiles of John, Paul, George and Ringo. And when I moved back to Lethbridge to attend University, I again left my posters hanging in my childhood room.

So when my parent decided to move in the winter of 2004, my Beatles posters needed to finally come down, seven years after they had first been put up. Because my family was moving with the bank, we would have professional movers come in pack and move our house. A few weeks before, we had gone through the house packing up the stuff we didn’t want in the moving van.

Again, I debated for a long time about whether or not I should take down my Beatles posters and bring them with me. But decided to have the movers pack them, after all, they were professionals and no doubt had special packaging to move such delicate items.

I didn’t think much about my posters until I came to my new/old room in Lethbridge ready to unpack my posters and bring some joy to my boring basement walls.

I wasn’t able to find the tube that I thought would hold my posters, so decided to unpack the rest of my boxes, thinking that my posters had mistakenly ended up in another room.

When I opened the first box, I noticed a familiar picture on top. It was one of my Beatles posters, folded, and in a box!

I hurried to unpack the rest of the box to find that all of my posters had been folded into small squares and placed in a box with the rest of my items. I unfolded my pictures to only find creases on my once pristine photos.

My emotions ran the gamut from angry to devastated and I tried to get as many of the creases out as I could. I was able to get the majority of creases out my posters by carefully ironing and starching my posters, but still, two of my posters (two of the oldest posters) didn’t come out well, and we had to say a sad good bye.

To this day, you can still see small crease marks on my posters, and I if I look at them long and hard enough, I still am devastated with the choice I made to let “professionals” handle them.

I have since moved three times with posters carefully in hand. I know time is coming, sooner than I am hoping for, that my Beatles posters will have to come down for good. But for right now, they will continue to be the first thing to be put up and the last thing to come down.

Come help us move on Saturday if you are looking for a good time!

Trying to keep it together, but undoubtedly failing miserably.

Please God Speed.

As Always,