I spent most of last week sleeping (or not sleeping) on an air mattress while searching for an apartment. Bill was gone on an unrelated trip so his apartment was available. That part worked nicely. So did the search itself. I knew the area in which I wanted to live and what I was looking for in an apartment—size, features, etc. Then over a couple of days I toured every building in the relevant area and matched them against my criteria. At the end it came down to two buildings, but I’d have to wait several weeks on one of them. That made the decision an easy one. Then the complications started.

This weekend was move-in weekend for UNC, Duke, and NC State. That did not help me. I scheduled a move for Saturday using a moving company I’d used more than once before. It was on short notice so they wouldn’t confirm the reservation when I made it, no big deal. Then at 6 PM on Friday they called me to tell me that they’d been unable to find movers. Not great. The moving company told me that they’d rescheduled me for Sunday morning. This would’ve worked, but I’d also received an email from my storage facility on Friday. They would be resurfacing their parking lot on Sunday and so access to the facility would be very limited. This was the only time I’d received a closure notice during the months my things had been stored in the facility, because of course it was. This meant several more phone calls, emails, and text messages with the moving company to coordinate another reschedule. Eventually I got through to them and my things were moved yesterday. I’m still very much in the unpacking phase but I have version one of my workstation setup, cooked myself breakfast this morning, and was able to sleep in my own bed for the first time in months. Over the coming days, I’ll work to make this place feel like what it is—my new home.