One of my least-favorite concepts is “multi-tasking.” I’ll leave discourse about the brain’s ability to walk and chew gum at the same time to Reggie Black; I don’t think it’s possible to do more than one thing at once. Sure, I can talk on the telephone and document the conversation with pen and paper, but when I layer in calculating the square footage of a few rows of garlic, things get dangerously confused.

“Multi-tasking” is the scourge of my existence and it may very well account for the downfall of the post-modern world. I will attempt it if I must, but deep down inside, I am at war with this idea of doing twenty things at the same time. I’m just a throwback, searching for order in a disorderly world.

Moving out of a residence I occupied for almost fifteen years has been my latest attempt at multi-tasking. I’m not sure if I’ve done it well, but I did make a few decisions along the way that served me until the very end. Like the Apocalypse I so cavalierly mention from time to time, things are chaotic right now, but it was smooth sailing for most of the adventure.

Here are a few of the things I suggest for throwbacks who are considering uprooting their lives:

Start moving months before relocating.
Blog readers may recall I got serious about moving back in February when I rented a storage space in my relocation destination. Moving was just a fun game nine months ago and each trip to the storage space was one laughing step along the thousand mile journey.

The storage space is paid through October 31. Tick tock.

Rent or purchase a replacement home ahead of time
Having two or three places to sleep at night is always a good thing. If the post-modern world requires me to multi-task, I’m also going to multi-bed. Not only did I have the benefit of a storage space, but for the last two months I’ve been moving into my new home. Even though things are out of order and upsetting for my Type A brain, all my stuff has been gradually transported and things are generally in place. If I get tired, I can just take a nap.

Take off time from work during the relocation week.
Like a politician, do as I say, not as I do. If I had to do this whole thing over again, I would have taken a week or two off from The Big Corporation to finalize all the little details of life. A failure of post-modern living is the habit of underestimating the amount of time it takes to do things adequately. For a throwback like me, anything worth doing is worth doing well. Yes, this type of perfection leads to problems, but I am my mother’s daughter.

That’s all I’ve got to say about moving today. We live in a crazy mixed-up world of motion and chaos. I don’t care for such madness; a kind Providence helped me to do a few things reasonably well on this journey. A few kind friends helped out too, but that’s a story for another day.

It’s almost “Pleasant Street” again in my life. Now, where is my wide-tooth comb?