We need to move.
We live in a mid-size three bedroom townhouse where all three bedrooms, and both bathrooms, are on the second floor.
I can't routinely get to the second floor, thanks to cancer and a damaged spinal cord. So we've crammed the living room full of the things that are necessary to a sane life: my hospital bed, a commode, the TV with its video game hookups, our two desks with computers on them, and a little make-shift card table for the kids to eat at.
So I'm basically living my life in one room, scarcely able to walk more than five feet in any direction because it's so crowded. It's not exactly the ideal living set-up for a claustrophobic person.
We need to move sometime soon.
So we're trying to buy a bigger, flatter house. Flatter as in, not having half the living areas on a 2nd story or in a basement I don't have realistic access to. This means we have to go look at houses, and most (okay none) of them are adapted for wheelchair entry. This past weekend we had a marathon of viewing seven houses in 2 days. I had to go up and down at least 2 steps, usually 3, to get in and out of each of them, plus stand up and walk to enter or exit every interior room, since internal doorways are not designed to be wide enough for wheelchairs. It was exhausting, but also exhilarating. My legs and knees had a tremendous work-out and they never let me down, not once. Sore yes, tired yes, but they never buckled.
Imagine how much more I'll be able to do when I get into a house where there's room to move about and exercise throughout the day, every day?
We need to move as soon as possible.
We've started packing. Started planning room organization, storage solutions, future holiday hosting. Started working out what our phone, internet, and TV options will be, how the kids will get to and from school (starting this coming August all three of them will be in school), and planning out how to not need extra adult help anymore, to achieve some real independence. We're looking at our tax situation for 2012 and planning how to move forward in 2013. There's plenty to get done, and all of it with a sense of urgency, of pressing importance. It wears me down, but it must be accomplished somehow. I've got to make sure we're ready for a bigger house payment and higher general maintenance/overhead, and that I'm physically and mentally ready to manage the new house when we get one.
My husband and I are tired of saying goodnight to each other every night and then he goes upstairs alone and I sleep down here in the living room, alone. I'm tired of not being able to see the kids' rooms and help guide and focus them when they need to clean them up. Tired of listening to thumps and bumps and arguments and crying and wondering what the hell is going on up there in their rooms, and not being able to go find out.
We need to move now.
