Birthday, Boxes, and Bad Timing: A Week in Controlled Chaos
If there’s ever a perfect time to catch a cold, it’s definitely not on your birthday week. But apparently, the universe missed that memo.
This past week was…a lot. I moved! But not far. Same apartment complex, just a new unit. Which sounds like it should’ve been a “light lift”, but turns out it’s just as hellish as any other move. I’ve spent the last few days buried in clutter, scheduling Task Rabbits, and questioning my taste in home décor at every furniture decision.
I’m calling it my “mini-move”. It didn’t require the full emotional bandwidth of a cross-country relocation, but it sure required some physical bandwidth! I don’t have to forward my mail to another ZIP code, but I do get the pleasure of updating my address in every account known to man. Driver’s license, bank, Amazon, Netflix, that random rewards program from 2016 I still use…all of them.
In the middle of all that chaos, I had a birthday! Which should’ve been the bright spot of the week (and it was, mostly) except I woke up sick 🤢. Like, can’t-breathe-through-my-nose, head-in-a-cloud, perpetual sneeze type of sick. Still, I could not miss my lunch reservation at Din Tai Fung because some things in life are sacred (it’s okay to judge me here). A few cough drops and a will to live later, I made it. My official rating: 6.5/10 – solid flavor, but can get equally good dim sum for 1/3 of the price.
Somewhere between the runny nose and putting together my IKEA furniture (while catching up on the new season of Love Is Blind, iykyk), I realized this week was a weird blend of endings and beginnings. Old apartment gone, new one slowly coming together. Another year older, still figuring things out (and losing some screws in both furniture and life).
It’s funny how “fresh starts” don’t always come with big, dramatic changes. Sometimes it’s just moving across the hall and getting a new sofa (btw waiting for delivery is torture 😩). Or celebrating your birthday sick and still showing up for yourself.
So yeah, it’s been a week of controlled chaos. But sitting here now, surrounded by half-assembled furniture and takeout containers, I actually feel good. Like this was exactly how it was supposed to turn out 💕
