18 Days Out: Maxxed Adulting, Life Lifing, and Running a Business Through It All

Eighteen days…

…and the universe apparently decided this was the week to remind me that adulthood is mostly paperwork, wearing a trench coat (in the least sexy way), pretending to be an adventure.

This morning I spent submitting disconnection notices for every utility in this house. Water, electric, internet, the whole lineup. There is something deeply strange about scheduling the exact date your home stops functioning as a home. It is very official. Very final. Very…unsettling.

And that was just this morning.

This past week, decided to turn boring adulting into a full-contact sport.

Turns out finding a bank that has branches in both Oregon and Colorado, and within an hour of where I currently live, is genuinely difficult. Like surprisingly difficult. Which is how I ended up setting up my child’s very first real adult banking situation while running errands that were now being done bay side in Portland, Texas. Which led to the realization that I have now been to Portland, Maine, Portland, Texas, and am about to live in Portland, Oregon. So somewhere in this universe I signed up for Portland, Whatever State Bingo and I am ticking them off one by one. 

Also this week, DMV appointments, setting up Petlink, getting the boys new tags, my best friend taking on the epic task of teaching my child to parallel park, and packing. So much packing. There is still so much more to go, and at this point packing has become less of a task and more of a disgruntled lifestyle. 

We have gotten rid of so much stuff that my TV is currently balanced on a very small bistro table and every time I walk past it, I am working my best to be as light-footed as possible.

And then there is the pod.

We just found out the pod may or may not actually fit through my driveway opening. May. Or may not. This is the kind of information you want well in advance and not 13 days out, but here we are, and it has officially become a locked and loaded surprise adventure waiting to happen. I will report back. I genuinely do not know what the outcome will be.

In the middle of all of this, my neighbor was loading up their own moving truck. Both abandoning the city this June, and could have been an unstoppable moving dynamic duo if our timelines had lined up. But instead of an epic team-up, they parked it in front of my driveway for an extended period of time, holding me hostage in my own home, which forced me to actually go talk to them, which led to us standing in the yard in the dark having a moment about our moves while we were waiting for her husband to come home and move their U-Haul.

And then, because apparently this is just how things go now, during that same front yard conversation a complete stranger walked up asking if we had any free furniture. And baby girl did I have the motherload for her. The next day I met her again, her adorable dog in tow, and gifted her a bed, which was honestly one of the bigger pieces I needed gone and could not have asked for better timing. The level of super strength I channeled loading her up solo really should have been applauded because this time I didn’t injure myself!

That same weekend my amazing friend Tina and her husband helped me load up the things that have just been sitting around for years, including a lawnmower from a man who mowed my yard exactly once back in 2020, hid the mower on the side of my house, and then vanished completely. I still think about that man sometimes and wonder what the f*ck happened to him.

Yesterday I got my WiFi back after a nearly five-hour outage, which forced to miss working but also allowed me to finally do the one task I had been avoiding. My closet. I love clothes. I will fully own that. And I have now done approximately eighty rounds of decluttering and packing in that closet, and with eighteen days left I am down to what I will basically be living in until we arrive in Portland and what should be able to be carried in 3 packing cubes (packing gods help me). And I got the wifi back just in time to squeeze in work and a nearly 2 hour call with one on my of my soul sisters.

And exactly a week ago, before all of this, I had my final event at the Berclair Mansion.

Four years of my life lived in that building. The events, the people, the late nights, the early mornings, that 2 a.m. paranormal event, all of it. I will be honest, my heart broke a little saying goodbye to the house and to the women I worked alongside for so long. But I will say this. For the first time in I cannot remember how long, I worked that event in sneakers instead of heels. Because while I was still cute AF my gawd, I was not going to stuff 90-degree heat moving chairs. Making sure the mansion was pretty and greeting all 168 people at the gate was done in heels and holding up part of my dress so I didn’t step on it. It took 4 years, but I finally learned!

But here we are. Eighteen days.

A pod that may not fit through my driveway. A TV on a bistro table and an office that will probably be on the floor next week. A closet down to the bare minimum and will be shoved in a bag shortly. A haunted mansion I will not be walking back into. A lawnmower mystery that will never be solved.

And somewhere between submitting disconnection notices and channeling superhuman strength to pack like it is my mission in life, I keep thinking about what comes after all of this. 

With the move behind me… My volunteer work officially wrapped…My kid dropped off at college…What will surely be a desperate need to not drive again for a very long time…

My life is going to change in a lot of ways and while I have yet to truly sit with living solo yet in my mind I have been able to do 1 thing.

I realized I am going to have room in my schedule that I have not had in years. 

Which means I have space for one website build or business backend opening up for August!!!

If that is something you have been quietly thinking about, now is a good time to mention it to me, because that spot will not stay open for long. I offer a free branding and website consultation if you want to talk it through.

But for now, eighteen days and counting!

P.S. We still have not uncovered who mailed me the box of chocolates.