Whoops. My last post made it sound like moving is imminent, but the Big Day is still a few weeks out. Womp, womp. Of course, while it may seem like the moving process is dragging out indefinitely (which it is, in many ways), it feels extremely urgent and present in my life.
For one thing, the packing seems like it will never be done in time! My husband and I spent all last weekend packing, and we cleared out a) the guest room and b) The Piece. THAT’S IT. I have been packing and packing and packing for weeks now. We have made three separate special trips to the dump to divest ourselves of trash (SO FAR). I have been to Goodwill a half dozen times. And yet, outside of a pervasive and mildly disturbing smell of cardboard, our home remains virtually unaffected.
How do we have so much STUFF?
In addition to packing, I am really struggling with all the logistics. There are so many things to schedule, from home repairs in our current house to moderate renovations in the new house. Plus, it’s the end of summer, so there are all sorts of School Is Starting Soon appointments and commitments and meetings. And Carla is done with camp but not yet in school all day. It also happens to be one of the busiest times of year for me workwise, so I have projects and meetings and deadlines.
I like to think I am fairly well-organized, but this is stretching the limits of this particular skill set. Because I am just one person, and I can unfortunately only be in one place at a time. It seems like most of my non-packing, non-working time lately is spent with my calendar open on both my computer and my phone, trying to figure out where to squeeze in the next thing I have to do.
Here is a perfect example of the kind of logistical knot I keep finding myself in: The Three Pianos.
- Piano #1: My husband and I possess a baby grand piano, which was a very generous hand-me-down from his parents. This is the same piano that lived in my husband’s house when he was growing up. I play the piano, so does my husband, and Carla (who has not yet taken piano lessons) likes to pick out songs on the keys. I grew up in a house with a piano and I am going to keep this piano for as long as I possibly can, even if I have to someday convert it into a bed so that it can fit into the confines of my room in the assisted living facility. So obviously this piano is coming with us to the new house. My husband and I have designated a room in our new house as The Piano Room. (It is supposed to be a formal dining room, but considering we have only ever used our current dining room for doing puzzles, we prefer dedicating a room to the piano and some cozy chairs and hosting all meals in our kitchen.)
- Piano #2: The sellers of our new house had a lovely upright piano. My father plays the piano and when he and my mom moved to our region, they were looking for a piano for their new house… so we arranged to buy the one from the sellers on behalf of my parents.
- Piano #3: My husband and I are also in possession of an electric piano. It is a full size piano that has a really nice, rich sound and has keys with a realistic feel to them. (But it also has other instrument settings, so you can change it to sound like a harpsichord.)You can hook headphones into it while you play and supposedly it connects via Midi to a computer, so it has a lot of useful technology. (My husband suggested at one point that we put it in Carla’s new room, so she could play it at her leisure… which sounds awesome, honestly. However, my husband also has a full size keyboard that he uses for producing music, so it’s not like my child won’t have a technology-compatible piano should she require it, yes I realize she is VERY spoiled.) (We have too many instruments in our house, but on the plus side, our house is full of music!) For the past few years, the electric piano has been sitting unused in our basement. We are donating this piano to a local school.
So here we have three pianos. None of the pianos currently lives in the place where it needs to end up. Part of my job is to get each piano to its new home. (Let’s say for the sake or argument and also true-to-lifeness that my husband is not available to help with any of this because he is at work.)
- Piano #1 cannot go to the new house until the floors have been redone. We cannot move it ourselves and have to hire piano movers.
- Piano #2 needs to go to my parents’ house, and it needs to be out of the new house before the flooring people arrive to redo the floors. But we cannot get it out of the new house until the sellers move out, which they have not done yet. (They negotiated extra time as part of our contract.) We cannot move this piano ourselves and have to hire piano movers. I have to be at the new house to give the movers access to the piano and then I have to be at my parents’ house to accept the piano. The new house is 25 minutes away from my current house; my parents’ house is 30 minutes away from the new house. One piano mover chargers more to pick up/deliver the pianos separately; one piano mover charges a flat per-piano fee so at least that makes it easy to choose but I had to make lots of calls to figure this all out.
- Piano #3 needs to go to the local school. We can move this piano ourselves, because I can fit it in my vehicle. My husband will help me load the piano into my vehicle the night before I need to deliver it, but I cannot fit both the piano and my daughter in the vehicle at the same time. The person who can accept the piano is only available Tuesday through Thursday, but on each of those days I have to drive my daughter to an appointment.
It’s like one of those logic puzzles with the complex grids you have to fill out until each option only has one right answer. I used to LOVE doing those logic puzzles when I was a kid. NOT SO MUCH ANYMORE.
This particular piano logic problem seems to be semi-resolved, at least. But where I cross off one logic problem, another pops up in its place! We’ve got windows repairs and roof repairs and school drop-off and cleaning people and final walkthroughs and another call week and haircuts and orthodontist appointments and PTA meetings and our very last block party and and and.
These are certainly not problems problems. Everything is fine, everything is good. And there will be a time after this. But right now, it is occupying ALL of my brain space.
Phew. Suzanne this is so much to juggle at once. No wonder it’s feeling overwhelming. It does sound like you are very much ON. THE. BALL, though.
Once the dust settles from the piano Tetris, how wonderful! Your parents will have a piano! Your family will have a piano! A local school will have a piano! But, goodness, that’s a lot of pianos to organize.
Wishing you all the best with the logistics and packing. Sometimes the only way through is through and you’ll get there my friend. Wish I lived close enough to help out. I’d gladly stop by to pack boxes <3
Yes! All the pianos! Pianos for everyone! A lot of piano wealth around here, which is fabulous. I wish you lived nearby, too, but I wouldn’t make you pack boxes. 🙂
If I solve this puzzle, do I get into the law school of my choice?
Seems like the reward for solving one is another logic puzzle aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!
Wow, that is some piano finagling for sure! I would not even know where to start if I had to move a piano! We had a piano and a melodeon (sp?) in our house growing up and to be fully honest with you, I have no idea how my parents moved them when they moved, as they are not in their house now (which is smaller, so that makes sense, but now I am wondering….where is the piano!?)
Where is the piano, Kyria?!?! I have never heard of a melodeon so I need to go look that up!
The logistics are a killer. Have you listed/ sold your house yet? Because that can make a difference, since you are in the same city. If you have a little leeway of time before move day and when your house officially changes owner day, then it’s a bit easier. Still, it is incredibly stressful and I see you and THERE WILL BE A TIME AFTER THIS! (copyright Allison).
We also have so many instruments; the piano was of course the simplest and also hardest to move, because there’s no option, you have to have piano movers. But J’s drum sets were tricky to move. The guitars were easy but take up a lot of room.
What you’re describing is exactly why we got the moving company to pack. Since you’re in the same city though, if you can get those couple of extra weeks, you can always go back to the old house and move a few things. Ahhhh good luck, I know how stressful this all is!
Oh my goshhhhh the DRUM SET. I completely forgot about the drum set. Will it fit in my car? Do we need to hire a UHaul? Ack!!!!
There will be a time after this, there will be a time after this. There WILL be a time after this!
Moving is SO HARD. Truly, the hardest thing to do, I think. The only way out is through, unfortch. But you can do it!! I’m sending up prayers and good vibes for you and your pianos! And all the other things. (And I’m hoping your husband can take a day or three off?!?)
He did not take any days off!!!! Wahhhh!!!!!
I read this all while nodding along sympathetically. Yes, this is a big part of why moving sucks. It’s just SO MANY of these little things which aren’t a huge deal on their own but they all need to be solved and your brain and time and logistics can only take so many at once and there are more than that.
Hahaha – there are more than that. INDEED.
Good times! We have a small spinet piano from my single gal days and an electric keyboard from the “time when the kids took lessons before I moved in days”. When I moved in we considered getting rid of my piano, but we couldn’t find any takers (this was before I knew about FB marketplace or buy nothing groups). Luckily my piano mover is an “everything else” mover as well.
There will be a time after this and yay that your parents are getting a piano out of the deal.
Another multi-piano household — excellent! Perhaps a person cannot have too many pianos? (Yes, a person can.)
That does sound complicated.
😂
Suzanne, I KNOW. I remember packing up our old house- we would have like ten boxes and all it was was stuff from one small closet. How is that possible??? It’s absolutely mind boggling when you realize how much stuff you have (which you never really realize until you have to pack it up and move it.)
I’m laughing at the three pianos. We have a lot of musical instruments as well (including just one piano.) My daughter plays flute and piccolo, and we bought her a piccolo, plus my sister gave us her old one, and now someone ELSE is giving us a piccolo. Who needs three piccolos? At least piccolos are small.
Moving is one of the most stressful events of life, but you will get through this!!!
Hahaha – three piccolos is a lot of piccolos!
It is mind boggling to realize how much stuff we have. How and why?!
I’m laughing out loud at your piano puzzle. As I was reading this I was thinking about those logic puzzles with the complex grids AND THEN YOU SHOW ONE. Oh my, I know it’ll work out somehow but what funny problem to solve, says she who doesn’t have to solve it.
Three Pianos is an excellent band name. I am jotting this down. Also, I love that you are in possession of three pianos.
Explain the logic puzzle more, please. I am intrigued. Maybe this will distract you from your packing/move. 😊
On our last move (out of six!), we rented a dumpster which was such a time-saver and also helped us make sure we only moved stuff we actually wanted to keep. It was pretty inexpensive as well. Moving is painful – I’m hoping to never do it again!
I love pianos although my main player (Younger Daughter) doesn’t live with me anymore and doesn’t play when she comes over. I probably could get rid of my piano although my grandsons might enjoy fiddling around on it when they get older. Good luck with the moving; it sounds like you’re making lots of progress…but it never feels like enough!
Ohhh moving… We moved from a condo to a 3500 sq feet house back in 2014. Had a small Toyota Yaris back then and will load up the poor car to the gills to run back-and forth between the condo and the new (old) house. I still have guilt how we abused that car with all the stuff we had to move.
All the things you have to do sounds very overwhelming but all will settle into place in a few weeks I’m sure.
Your house IS a place of music and I think that is wonderful. I think you should convert a space in your home into a duelling piano bar. I do not have an answer for this riddle, but I wish you luck with all the piano juggling ahead of you.
All the packing feels daunting and then somehow it all gets done. Such an exciting time. I am still celebrating that your parents are in town too.
Can you contact the owners of the new house/piano and arrange for them to meet the movers just prior to the sale of the house; while you or your parents are on the other end to receive the piano? I would think if they are willing to sell you the piano, they would be amenable to working with you on moving it.
Honestly, moving is exhausting well before you actually do so. But you are making progress!
Eeeeee, I always sucked at those logic puzzles. A wolf and a chicken and a bag of grain in one boat – I never had any grain or chicken at the end.
It makes complete sense that this is consuming your life right now.
I have my childhood piano, an immense upright, which one guy drove here and somehow moved in by himself using only straps and leverage. Many strong neighbour men had to put it downstairs in my parents’ old house. I don’t play it nearly enough even though I love playing, because somehow I constantly forget that we have it.
I love the colour of your walls!
Since the sellers seem to not want/need the piano, could you ask if you could buy it/move it out of their house ahead of the closing? That would give you more time to plan all the piano moves! That is what I would do! We were lucky to buy our house before listing our current house. So we had almost 2 months to move. The houses were only a mile apart, too. So that really made things easier logistically, which was key since we had a 20 month old busy toddler! I did kind of love the opportunity to go through things and purge what we didn’t need but it’s so much work and it’s extra hard that it’s coinciding with your busy time at work! Keep repeating the “there will be a time after this” mantra. You’ve got this!
But as an aside, I did not know your husband was so musical! I’m the only piano player in our house right now. We have a beautiful Kawai piano that I bought about 12 years ago when i was living in a condo and finally had room for a piano. Then I had to move to Charlotte but knew I wasn’t there for the long haul so my colleague kept it at his house while I was away. And then they ended up buying nearly the same piano because they loved having one in their house. Our piano is on the main level which is an open concept set up. Ideally the piano would be somewhere else but it’s the way it worked out. I plan to put Paul in lessons in the next couple of years!
This sounds like the plot of a mystery novel. The Secrets of The Three Pianos. Someone has to figure out how to find the clues in the piano to find the kidnapper to save the stolen macaw who knows where the buried treasure is. Is this a Nancy Drew story?
In all seriousness, though, this does seem like quite a logistical issue and I hope you’re able to find a relatively stress-free solution!
A baby grand piano <3 <3 <3 While I don't envy you for having to figure out how to move it…. it's a baby grand! LOVE IT!
So many pianos, so little time. WTH?
I would love my marbles trying to solve the riddle—-sending you love and support from way down here!
Moving is always such a crazy time. As you know I’ve been through it twice within 13 month. But it is also energizing in some way. So many new possibilities, you get to rethink the things you own. you discover things you already own.
I hope. even though it is physically exhausting it also holds some of the magic of new beginnings.
Hoping also you can figure out the piano moving dilemma.
Here, I fixed this sentence for you: “We have JUST THE RIGHT NUMBER OF instruments in our house, but on the plus side, our house is full of music!” 🙂 There is no such thing as too many instruments, unless perhaps one has 100 tubas or something like that. Three pianos sounds like a logistical nightmare, yet, but a perfectly lovely-sounding one, at that. I hope it all worked out.