Moving-In Day

Hello friends! I’m writing this from my new home in upstate New York, in the Catskills. I’m in a lovely small town which I haven’t gotten to explore much yet. It’s beautiful here. We moved because New York state has gender identity and sexual orientation protected in the state constitution, so me and a young family member will be much safer than we were in Florida.

We know winter is going to be rough. But, then, I think I’d rather deal with not wanting to go outside for 4-5 months a year instead of 8-9 months in Florida. I’m on a medication that makes my body unable to regulate heat well, so I had to stay indoors most of the year. It’s 80F today, but tonight it’ll be 68F and we can open the windows.

The new apartment is a ground-floor corner unit of a 6-unit building. Every single room has windows. I’ve hung curtains and sheers over each, and we haven’t needed to turn on any lights yet. Curtains are open, sheers are closed, and it’s lovely. There’s a wooded area a few yards outside our front windows. From the back windows you can see the mountains in the distance.

The last two weeks were pretty rough. Actually, the month before that was hard too. But for two weeks we’ve been in hotels, waiting for the moving company to get our stuff here. (There were multiple reasons I couldn’t drive a moving truck myself. I can drive one, and did a few months ago for a relative. But there were logistical issues, especially around bringing two cats in the cab with us.)

We checked out of the final hotel this morning, and were home by 10:30. Within an hour the cats were relaxed. (They traveled so well I didn’t even need to drug them after the first morning.) I did some physical stuff, took a shower, and set up the cable modem. Now Mom and I are relaxing, feeling completely at home despite all the unpacking we need to do. The worst part is over. We can take our time unpacking.

As I mentioned in my last post, each box we packed got a letter and number. Because of this, I know the living room had 21 boxes, Mom’s room had 14, the kitchen had 9, and my bedroom had 45. No, that’s not a typo. Between yarn, fiber, and books, I own a lot of stuff. And that’s with giving away or selling a lot of stuff. As an acquaintance on a Discord server said, “Hobbies bring in lots of niche things that take space. Boring people have few boxes.” I’m going to use that as my motto. It all fits in my room, though I’m going to need some more organizing solutions. But that’s a problem for Future Grayson.

I’ve already made a friend up here, and have a meetup as well as a party I’ve been invited to next weekend. If I feel up to it, I’ll be going to a concert Thursday. Mom has plans to be social too. We can play hermit when winter comes.

Signing off for now. Here’s a photo of Loki stealing my recliner, just like he used to do back in Florida!