Moving, Moving In, Settling Down

A jazzed-up picture from my ride around White Rock Lake.

Where is the Goo-Goo Car Wash?

That’s the name of the place in Tupelo where I took our car to be washed. You put your credit card in the machine, hit a button, the attendants spray soap on the front and back of your car, then you pull forward a bit, put the car in neutral, and a mechanism engages your left front tire, propelling the car through a conveyance of water, soap, spray wax, and a rotating thingamajig that scrubs your car with strips of thick cloth. When that’s done, the car goes through a final rinse, then blowing air dries the car. After that, you find a space where you can use vacuum hoses to clean the inside of your car. 

All very nice and efficient.

The Goo-Goo in Tupelo was located on North Gloster next to the Sonic and across the street from Wendy’s. I have no idea where the Goo-Goo is in Dallas, or if they even have a Goo-Goo here. It doesn’t matter because I’m sure you can find hundreds of places to wash your car in Dallas.

So it’s Wednesday night and I’ve turned into a philosopher. Mostly I wish to say that moving is utterly exhausting. This week I’ve hardly checked the Internet or my Facebook page, which is totally uncharacteristic for me. But I’ve been too tired to do much of anything. I realize that I am a total creature of habit. I like to think of myself as flexible, but flexibility has its limits. I prefer to know where everything is in my life. Right now that simply isn’t possible.

I have concluded that moving to a new city has three distinct phases:

1. Moving. That’s the packing, loading, physically moving, and then unloading. That part is done.

2. Moving in. That involves unpacking everything, hooking things up, hanging pictures, getting the TV and Internet working, and in general making sure everything is in the right place. We’re currently in Phase 2.

3. Settling in. Phase 3 is much longer and involves making contacts, figuring out where to shop, finding good restaurants, setting up a local bank account, changing our addresses, finding doctors, finding a church, meeting our neighbors, and ultimately feeling at home in Dallas. We’re very early in Phase 3.

Two weeks ago we were in Tupelo. One week ago we were in Dallas, in a motel, waiting to close on our new home. Today we are in our home, and we have been busy trying to get some sort of a routine established. Everything is going fine, but I notice that Marlene and I are going to bed much earlier than normal. When I think of how easy it was to move when we were 25, it makes me want to lay down and take a nap.

But there are some wonderful rewards to being here. Yesterday Knox spent the morning with us. Today Vanessa came by with Eli and Penelope. This afternoon Mark came by to talk KBM with me. Little by little this new house is becoming our home. 

Overall we’re doing quite well. We made it to Dallas, we’re going to bed early, we’ve checked out Torchy’s Tacos (very spicy), and we’ve unpacked most of our boxes. We found a Walmart nearby plus I rode the White Rock Lake trail yesterday. We haven’t found a car wash yet, but we will sooner or later. So do we feel “moved in” yet? No, but we’re getting there slowly. 

That’s the mid-week report from our new home in Dallas.