<p>Yeah! Good news!</p>
<p>I bet J will love having you in NYC, and you will too.</p>
<p>Wherever you are, I know people who have had that view from further up river. It’s great! Enjoy!</p>
<p>How exciting! What an awesome way to start the spring!</p>
<p>Donna, how exciting! Please be careful and do not strain your back while moving your stuff. I know a lady who did that moving her stuff (she is sitting in my chair and typing this message). Enjoy your new digs!</p>
<p>Donna, how terrific that you have the go-ahead and your S will be home to help with the packing!!! A most fortuitous confluence of events!</p>
<p>I thought we’d be in this house forever, but am now wondering if we might move closer in at some point. Only problem is that it would cost more to get something smaller than our current house would get on the market!</p>
<p>Donna, of course I thought of you when I read this: [Don’t</a> Move! If You Know What’s Good for You - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/dont-move-if-you-know-whats-good-for-you/]Don’t”>Don't Move! If You Know What's Good for You - The New York Times)</p>
<p>Dick Cavett is always a pleasure, but the comments are great.</p>
<p>And good luck with the move.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone – you’re all very sweet.</p>
<p>I loved that article and the comments. Apparently, there are some people with even more books than I have:</p>
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<p>It’s a little frightening that I packed about 20 feet of books today (and managed to find about 3 feet so far I’m willing to part with!), and it looks like I barely made a dent. It’s a good thing my present lease doesn’t expire until May, so I have some time to get this done, even though I’ll be paying double rent for April.</p>
<p>I think if I could take a week off from work, I could get this done without too much trouble. Unfortunately, I can’t. </p>
<p>I don’t have any expensive china or antique furniture, and my plan is to move everything that’s truly important to me (certain books, my family photographs and genealogical research, my various collections) myself. So I’m not too worried about loss or damage.</p>
<p>I think what bothers me the most is worrying that Ziggy will be traumatized by the move. He’s spent 3 1/2 of his 4 years with me, and this apartment is his universe – he’s only been outside once every year, for his annual trip to the vet. At least it’ll be all the same furniture and bookcases, etc., so I hope it doesn’t take him <em>too</em> long to get used to the new place. And I"m wondering if maybe I should take him to the new apt. once or twice before the move, so at least it won’t be completely unfamiliar to him. </p>
<p>I suppose that while the movers are here, I’ll shut him up in the bathroom.</p>
<p>I’m taking J. to see the new apartment, and explore the neighborhood a little, tomorrow afternoon. I hope he likes it. The broker’s meeting us there to let us in. The place is finally vacant so it’ll be a chance to take some measurements and make sure everything functions, although it still needs to be cleaned and painted before I can start moving anything in.</p>
<p>I’ve managed to get by the last 10 years without renter’s insurance, but maybe I should get it for the new place. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what insurance companies offer it, and I know it isn’t very expensive unless you have to purchase additional riders covering valuable property. Which I probably should, but I’d have to get some things appraised first, something I haven’t done in 25 years and can be a real pain.</p>
<p>It feels a little strange to be moving to a new place at age 55. Yes, I grew up in Manhattan and lived there (except when I was away at college and law school) until I was 32, but I’ve been away a very long time, and never lived in Upper Manhattan before. In a way, I’m glad I’m not in the middle of Manhattan anymore, and will be able to look out my window and see the Hudson River and the Palisades. As urban a person as I am, fundamentally, I have to admit that all those years of suburban living did get me used to having something outside my home other than concrete and spindly little sidewalk trees!</p>
<p>What I really hope, of course, is that being in a new place, and being in the City again and closer to some of my old friends, will energize me a little, and I won’t feel so completely isolated anymore, or spend so many of my weekends doing little other than napping all day. Yes, it’s true that I still haven’t recovered completely in a physical sense from my surgery 9 months ago, and am still more tired than I used to be, but at least some of it, I"m sure, is attributable to a “what’s the point of going out” kind of depression, and to not knowing anyone anywhere near where I live. It’s amazing how much happier and more energetic I’ve felt just in the last couple of days with J. home on vacation, but I know that as time goes by he’ll be home less and less, and I need to be less dependent on him to give meaning to my life. I honestly believe that moving into the City will help me with that. </p>
<p>And, somehow, I’ll learn to deal with the fact that I’ll no longer have 9 different supermarkets and several 24-hour drugstores less than 10 minutes away!</p>
<p>I don’t think I’ll miss this apartment too much. Yes, I have many fond memories of all the time I spent here with J., since my ex and I separated and I moved here – just 3 miles away – when he was 10. Basically, he split his time close to 50-50 between us; he was with me every weekend all those years from Friday until I brought him to school Monday morning (in addition to most vacations), and I have to admit that I’m kind of proud of the fact that the total number of weekends I had to cancel with him because of work or other reasons was zero. But I also have some not so fond memories, because this was also the place where I went through a very prolonged and difficult divorce, and several extremely serious illnesses, and all the stresses of my transition (even though I was very fortunate for the most part, and really don’t have too much to complain about as far as that’s concerned). </p>
<p>There’s only one thing I’ll really miss about the apartment itself, though: the place on one wall where I made all the little marks showing J.'s height over a 10-year period, from the first one, where he was just a little thing barely 4 feet tall, until now (even though he’s not exactly a giant!). I wish there was some way I could peel it off the wall without destroying it, and take it with me, and it’s sad to think that the landlord will just be painting it over, but I’ll definitely take photos of it before I leave.</p>
<p>Donna</p>
<p>Donna, the cat will adapt. He’ll hide for the first few days in the new place, but eventually he’ll come out, investigate, and even thrive.</p>
<p>As will you.</p>
<p>Sounds like just the right move at just the right time.</p>
<p>Do NOT keep the cat in either apartment while you move. Take him to a responsible cat boarding facility. Yes, it will be difficult for him, but much less difficult than if he escapes during the move. That only happened to us once, and fortunately it was a cross-town move and we could spend the night there… but after that I boarded the cats during the move.</p>
<p>Oh, and if the wall is sheet rock, you could cut out the sheetrock and then do a patch. It’s not that hard.</p>
<p>Thank you, VeryHappy. I hope you’re right. I do know that I really need a change of scenery. </p>
<p>dmd77, I’m an ignoramus when it comes to this kind of thing. How do I tell if the wall is sheet rock? If it is, what do I cut that section out with, and what do I patch the wall with? Thanks!</p>
<p>Hmm… How can you tell if it’s sheet rock? Well, when you drill a hole in the wall, is it just a panel mounted on studs? If you got really angry and punched the wall, would there be a hole or would you break your hand?</p>
<p>Pretty much anything built after 1945 is sheet rock. If you can hear your neighbors walking around it’s probably sheet rock. The problem is that, if you don’t know whether it’s sheet rock, you probably aren’t the kind of person who knows how to patch sheet rock. (I learned after I punched a hole in the wall when I was 16—had it patched and painted before my parents got home.) </p>
<p>Do you have any friends who are really good with tools? You’re looking for someone who not only knows what a Sawzall is, they own one, and know how to use it. It’s possible, if your present apartment has a super, s/he might be able to help you, for a small bribe.</p>
<p>Advice about the cat is spot on. We’ve lost two cats over the 30 years in moves. They just don’t adapt very easily.</p>