Denise, Who’s Not (Do you hear me? I mean it!) Going to Move

Inspired by the children's book

Alexander, Who's Not (Do you hear me? I mean it!) Going to Move

By Judith Viorst

They can’t make me pack my Kitchen Aid mixer or my ME teapots or my hallway photos or my Willow tree figurines.  They can’t make me pack my roller-skates, my acoustic guitar, “Stella,”my polka dot pillows or my “refrigerator art”.

My husband is packing. My son is packing. My daughters Emilie and Josie are packing.

I’m not packing.  I’m not going to move.

My husband says this house is no longer ours and that we have to move to the lake house until we find a new home.  My son, Noah, says he wants to move, and that the lake house feels like home.  I say this place feels like home. The lake house feels like it is a thousand miles away from home. 

I’m not- DO YOU HEAR ME? I MEAN IT!- going to move.

I’ll never have  neighbors like Don & Virginia again. I’ll never hear them on their back patio playing dice or be invited in through the back door to sit and talk over a cup of hot tea.  Who will I borrow baking soda from {i’m always running out of baking soda}. I’ll never hear a tap on my back door and be blessed by Virginia bringing us cookies.  I’ll miss Don & Virginia.   

I’m not  packing.  I’m not going to move.

Noah says I’m too sentimental.  Emilie says maybe it’s just “horror moans.”  Josie dances and sings “we’re moving to the laa..ake.” Michael says the lake house won’t feel like it’s a thousand miles away and that we’ll have new neighbors to borrow baking soda from.

Never. Not ever. No way. Uh uh. N.O.

I maybe could stay here and live with Don & Virginia. They have a dog; a yappy dog, Shorty.  I don’t like their dog.

I maybe could stay here and live with the Hilliards.  They’ve always wanted a live in maid.  I could clean their baseboards. I’m really good at cleaning baseboards.

I maybe could stay here and live in the play structure. I don’t think the new owners would mind.

Noah says I should stay here, and that I can use his Dangerous Book for Boys  book so I’ll know how to build myself  a tree-house, skin a rabbit, and make a campfire.
Emilie says it’s okay to be emotional.
Josie dances and sings, “we’re moving to the laa..ake.”
Michael says I should take a last look at my favorite places.

I’m taking a look- but it won’t be my last.

I looked at the view out the back window~ golden rolling foothills draped  by a brilliant blue sky {it’s breath-taking in the spring}, I looked at the play structure and pressed rewind on my memory~ I see Noah, Emilie and Josie playing there.  Emilie would swing for hours.  I would swing with her and as we’d swing we’d sing “ Swing low, sweet chariot, come’n forth to carry me hooommmeee.”

I sat on the couch in the living room in the early morning sun staring out the picture window to the swing up on the hillside.

I remember the kids {a hundred years smaller} romping around on that hillside with Belle {our yellow lab who went to “the farm” last fall} protectively following behind them {i miss Belle}.

I sat on the swing on the back patio and played “Stella” while swaying back and forth, surrounded by the green grass and cheery flowers framing our yard. I am reminded of little girls holding hands while running in the sprinklers, of camp-outs in the yard, of playing fetch with Belle, of picnic lunches on the lawn.  I’m reminded of  trecking over to our former neighbors’ Melanie & Steve’s house, of hours shared visiting over their homemade salsa. I’m reminded of our former neighbor boy Ronald Raymond Robertson playing here and the ways God moved mightily in his young life.
I KNOW God will continue to move mightily in his life. I’m hoping He is moving in mine now.

I’m not do you hear me - I mean it - going to move!

Michael says I should say goodbye to all my special people.

I’m saying goodbye but it won’t be my last.

I said good bye to Sylvia. I loved “walgging” {walk/jogging} with Sylvia, we had the best conversations. I said good bye to the Thibodeux. The Thibodeux really went out of their way to love on our family the 6.7 years we lived here.  I said goodbye to Julie.  I waited forever for Julie to move near me and now I’m moving away from her.  I said goodbye to Don & Virginia. Virginia promises we’ll talk on the phone every week. We better because i’m reallly going to miss Virginia...I might even miss her dog, Shorty.

i said a lot of good -byes to a lot of people and got a lot of hugs and kissess, enough hugs and kisses to last a person’s whole life.  I said a lot of good-byes- except i’m not going to move.

When the movers {michael, gramps, nana, eric, spinner, sheffie & jeremy} come to put  the red buffet on the U-Hauls truck, maybe I’ll barricade all the doors.  when Michael wants to take down the patio swing maybe I’ll get the kids to join me in a sit-in protest on the swing while holding signs that say “SHE MEANS IT! WE’RE NOT GOING TO MOVE!!

Noah says I’m being ridiculous.
Emilie says she likes that I am so sentimental.
Josie dances and sings, “we’re moving to the laa..aake.”
Michael says he understands, he’ll miss this place too, and did I get the spare key from Don & Virginia to give to the new owner?

Michael is packing.  Noah is packing.  My girls Emilie and Josie are packing.
I don’t like it, but I’m packing too.

They better not try to move anymore when we get where we’re going to go.

Because this is the last time I’ll do it.

The next time they won’t make me do it.
Never. Not ever. NO way.  Uh uh. N.O.

I’m not- DO YOU HEAR ME? I MEAN IT?- going to move.