Moving... and Overwhelm

We are-- more or less-- moved into the new house.

Some people deal really well with stress-- in fact, they tend to be at their best when their backs are against the wall. I'm not one of those people.

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic-- and included having a houseguest for a week. Of course, that arrangement had been made a long time ago, back when we thought we would be moved in by mid-September.

The stamp area, as seen from my desk.

I have barely had time to set up (or organize) my new office space-- but things are slowly beginning to take shape. No matter what we do in life, it seems like we always have "more than expected."

As we were packing to leave our old house, I became very aware that I have accumulated far more "unsorted" stamps than I thought. Now that I am unpacking-- for what will hopefully be the last time-- I have grown even more aware of the sheer number of boxes marked "stamp related" that also could be placed into a general category of "to sort later."

Occasionally, I come across programs on cable TV about people who are "hoarders." My wife and I watch (with some fascination) and then grow more determined to control our hoarding tendencies.

It makes me wonder if stamp collectors are all "hoarders," to some degree, except we keep it under some semblance of control by only hoarding one "thing." I am yet to meet a collector who's always "caught up" with his or her collection. For most of us, there are 47 million "projects" and "sub-projects" and piles of things set aside to "deal with later." On the surface, it looks pretty neat and tidy... but stamps are little and light, and the "under control" looking shelf that houses 23 shoeboxes and a bunch of stockbooks may actually be home to a giant mess of items that number in the 100's of thousands.

Not that I am getting down on stamp collectors. Or myself, for that matter.

For the moment, it's just a little daunting... there is so much (now that everything is finally in one place) and "where do I start?" I keep reminding myself of an old truism: "The way to eat an elephant is... one bite at a time..."

The upheaval of moving...

We are moving.

In a few days, the movers-- in the form of two guys and a truck from a local furniture company who moonlight as moving services-- will be here to pick up our stuff and move it to our new house. Well, the house is new to us, not new in the age-of-the-building sense.

A few years back, using part of a bookshelf as "office"

Moving tends to be very stressful and typically a hassle. This time, though, I am somewhat looking forward to it. For the first time, I will have an actual "dedicated" office space for my stamps and other home businesses. Even though I have been "working from home" for years and years, I have never had an actual office to call my own-- typically, I have had a corner of a living room, half a bedroom, a walk-in closet, or something similar. This time, we converted what was the previous owner's fairly large workshop into a light and spacious office for yours truly.

It has been a long time since I have actually had all my stamp boxes unpacked in one place. It will be interesting to see what's in some of these boxes that have not seen the light of day in maybe 15 years.

We are planning to make this our "last" move. Maybe those sound like "famous last words," but we spent a long time very carefully planning what we needed in a home, and then taking our sweet time until just the right thing came onto the market. The relative luxury of being able to wait and buy what we wanted, when we wanted is something we worked a long time towards. My wife and I are both veterans of many, many moves, and tumultuous childhoods that involved frequently moving... so the idea of a "firm" home base is very appealing to both of us.

So, for the moment, I need to shut things down for a while, and pack my stuff. I'll be back with new musings when we get to "the other side."

[Written 2011-10-28; refined and published 2011-12-01]

New Location

It seems like it was 20 years in the making, but I am glad to be able to report that I am now writing this from Port Townsend, in western Washington. I have always loved the Pacific Northwest, and I am glad to be able to call it "home," and I'll also say-- after the ordeal of moving here-- that I do not plan to have any more major moves in my life.

Maybe those are the "famous last words."

So far, I have unpacked relatively little of my stamp collection, although I am looking forward to living in a place with seasons-- including the "winter season" I always associated with stamp collecting, when I was a kid.

One of the things I really like about this part of the country is that there's a strong Scandinavian influence here. This also has an impact on stamp collecting, as more people tend to collect stamps from an area that relates to their original heritage. I expect I'll find far more Scandinavian material at the shows and with dealers here.

Packing things away to move

I have started packing quite a few of my stamps away, in preparation for moving. Even though we are still nowhere near actually putting the house on the market, we continue to go through the seemingly endless process of packing things away, and getting rid of the excess.

I feel a bit hesitant about putting stamp stock books and philatelic literature away, with the idea that I "won't need them" for a while. I suppose it makes me take a long hard look at exactly which stamp catalogues are meaningful in my collecting. I am also about to pack away some of my collections, and that worries me a bit, too. It could be months and months before I can get to them again... what if I felt like organizing some stamps, in the interim?

I suppose that's part of the "price" we pay for doing the move as a "self-move."