On the Move

July has been a hectic month. I am moving. I do not like to move.  This move has been a long time coming. In fact my life has been a roller coaster the last few years. High highs and the lowest of the lows. My house, a 1959 prefab, was a great place to raise my son. I have many fond memories but it is time to move on. I intend to be a rolling stone for quite some time. I am weary of being a home owner. I do not understand the over attachment to a place and certainly a home. It is not where one live but how one leads life that matters. Home ownership is misleading--a capitalistic myth. One owns a home but what a person really does is manage a building. Well my building is a pain in the ass. In recent weeks my house was hit by lightening and blew out kitchen appliances and electronics that were not unplugged. Just a few days ago the main pipe from the well to my basement burst. At least a foot of water was in my basement and when I opened the door was met with a small tidal wave of water. The plumber noted "you have a great well pump. It will pump about 20 gallons a minute." Sorry I am not impressed. What does impress me are memories. I cherished every minute raising my son. My home, the building I live in, was a tiny part of raising my son. In fact I will miss a tree the most. A purple plum tree. We planted it our first spring in the house. My son was in his digging phase. He dug a giant hole for a very small tree from the Home Depot that comfortably fit in our car.  We bought peat moss and read about how to plant and care for a tree. We trimmed that tree every spring. My son grew like a weed and so did the tree. My son is a tall and slender man. The purple plum tree is full and large. Like my son a mature specimen. This spring some 17 years later he needed a ladder to prune some dead branches. The tree is taller than our house. This is a memory that will last a life time. 

My move is the reason why there have been few posts in July. I have spent much time discarding the cultural residue, the material items, of our life. This has been liberating. My move will be very simple. Many book boxes. Kitchen stuff--lots of kitchen stuff. No furniture. No chairs, desks, dressers, framed pictures. A clean slate if you will. But even this minimal move has consumed much of my time. So be patient with me. I will get up to speed in the weeks to come. I have much to write about. I am deeply disturbed by what I have been reading about with regard to assisted suicide in the Unite States and especially in the UK. Compassion and Choices has disseminated a video in "celebration of the ADA". To say I am stunned is a major understatement. Talk about nerve! I am excited about the upcoming semester. I will be teaching in the honors program again as well as graduate students. I intend to seriously challenge the graduate students. I will also travel and give many presentations. Ah, the life of an academic. You gotta love it. 

Below is evidence of my move. My living room is the staging area.