1,000 Pounds of Stuff

On the bedstand: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullersFinally, finally, after nearly four weeks of transit, my "stuff" arrived. The 1000 pound pallet was filled with everything from record albums to a queen sized mattress. It landed on my doorstep after a 2,300 mile journey from Houston. I looked up at it. It was at least 10 feet tall. I didn't know where to begin.It was a grey day. Dry, but that wouldn't last. I ripped at the protective plastic sheet, exposing the cardboard boxes to the elements. I'd need to make a quick decision on where to begin. This "stuff" wasn't waterproof.Just then, I noticed a toolbox and a friendly voice. My neighbor Lars watched the delivery from his room above mine. The pallet was so unbalanced, he was sure it would fall into the street. It didn't, so now he was asking if he could help carry things inside. Before I could answer, his girlfriend Wenting was propping open the gate and clearing a path inside. I smiled a smile of disbelief and offered them a beer. "Later," they said.Within an hour, my apartment was filled with cardboard boxes and a proper bed and a dinner invitation. "Could I bring anything?" I asked. "You mentioned something about beer earlier." We feasted as neighbors on chicken and potatoes and cold beer. Welcome to Seattle!That weekend, I unpacked box after box. There wasn't too much, yet each box held at least one surprise. The boxes had never been unpacked after my move from Austin which helped assure that most of the big "stuff" made it. Thankfully, Mom and Dad were nice enough to tie up some of the loose ends and help coordinate the pallet with the moving company. I'm sure they didn't mind transferring my clutter out of their house as well.Clutter. Suddenly I had more of it. After living out of a suitcase for eight months, I'd grown accustomed to a clutter-free lifestyle. In my efforts of maintaining that, I found a box-worth of "stuff" from the move that could be labeled as clutter. It's on it's way to Goodwill. Here's to sticking with those anti-clutter aspirations.As for the apartment, my discomfort with it has already been cataloged. It's amazing how a few crates of "stuff" can change that. Utensils. A bed. Clutter.And really, really good neighbors.