In June we made the big move down the 401 highway from Montreal to Toronto. Now, being from Toronto, AND having moved houses 13+ times since we’ve been married, you would think it would be pretty much a non-event.
Let me tell you, it was anything but. I put it down to being overly confident and maybe a wee bit too complacent. Did things go awry? Missing even? Indeed, they did.
Screw-up number 1: the date that was actually booked and written on the contract was not the one we had in our calendar. Now – if this had happened 10, or 20 years ago, the world would have come to an end. I can’t begin to imagine the drama…however, with old age experience, comes wisdom and you realize, that you’ll figure it out – which we did and it worked out all right in the end.
Screw-up number 2: We finished cleaning our place, locked up and left….it was only once we were in Toronto that I realized I was missing my purse – and I’d probably left it back at the house. Fortunately, our daughter still lives in Montreal, very close to the house so she was able to confirm that it was still in there (the new people don’t move in until mid-July and we weren’t completely closing it up until the end of June, so I knew it was safe – a little inconvenient, but safe).
Screw-up number 3: Pianos are harder to unload than I thought. Our new place in Toronto is significantly smaller than our place in Montreal and my piano – which we have lugged through 10 of the 13 moves – we didn’t think would fit. It’s a Gerhard Heintzman console piano (built in Canada in 1973). I posted in a local Facebook group to donate to a worthy cause where it would be useful and well-loved. It turns out organizations don’t want pianos. For one thing most of the organizations already have 1 if not 2, and secondly, they need to be tuned on a regular basis and you need qualified movers to get them there – so “free” isn’t “free.” It ended up coming with us and while it’s a bit of a tight fit, it’s okay.
Screw-up number 4: We lost stuff somewhere along the way. I cannot figure out what happened to our old duvet and quilt but somehow, they’ve disappeared. We can’t find them. Now, the linens were pretty threadbare, so it’s no great loss, but it’s a head scratcher.
Photo albums: In addition to screw ups, there are tons of boxes of photo albums left. I have been asking people left, right and centre what they do with their albums (those of us who are Gen-Xers and Boomers will understand this problem, the rest of you will just tell me to digitize them. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I never look at my digital photos. I have thousands from 2010 onwards that I haven’t printed off because I don’t want to make more albums – but then again, I seem to have a very limited memory of the last 13 years because I don’t have albums. Anyhoo, if you have any suggestions about how you slim down your photo albums please let me know in the comments section.
On top of all these unforeseen issues – all of which were solvable but caused quite a bit of inconvenience and head space – there is the physical effort of moving furniture and boxes, even with hired movers. While lifting heavy weights and strength training is really good for you and can help you stay strong as you age, lifting more than you’re prepared for can hurt your back, arms and put a lot of stress on your heart.
Stress is a common night sweats trigger, especially in women who are prone to them. It’s easy to say that the solution is to “avoid stressful situations” – I’m rolling my eyes as I type this. We all know that avoiding stress is impossible, especially in certain circumstances like moving. Stress can lead to night sweats because it activates your sympathetic nervous system – the “fight or flight” system. It gets your heart racing, contracts your blood vessels and raises your blood pressure. All of these contribute to causing night sweats.
In the case of moving, however, you can be as proactive as you think and things will still go wrong. But it’s a short-term pain. Do as much as you can ahead of time and just accept that it’s going to most likely be an exhausting time – and you might want to schedule a vacation within a week of moving just to give yourself some recovery time.
Our Simone nightgown will help keep you comfortable during these stressful times so you can sleep better. And sleep is exactly what you need so you can keep up with your daily demands.