Clocks and other things that need to be synchronized

Tim and I made the BIG move this past weekend, he moved in. Over the past few weeks, he's been frantically packing his things. It kind of threw a wrench into our normal habits. The Olympics probably didn't help much because that was time he could have spent cleaning and organizing. Instead, he watch with me for a couple hours and then stay up a little later to do some packing each night.

Originally, he had proposed moving in at the end of July. That was back in May. But time passed and he did nothing. So at the end of June, he asked if it would be better to wait until after the wedding. I told him I didn't like the idea. For one thing, why not save the money paying rent and a mortgage (you know, practical me). For another, the holidays and travel will make it more complicated to try and move after the wedding. Hence, he gave notice on August 1st.

I *finally* got to see his apartment the week before the move. Slowly, he was bring over boxes of things while I was desperately trying to donate away clothing and junk to make space (something I'm still doing because I have such a hard time parting with perfectly good things that take up space in my closet ;)). The place was just as I remembered it - dusty and messy.

The dust was sooooo bad, that on moving day I insisted he had to wipe down anything that came into my condo. I actually set up my vacuum on the driveway and sucked up every nook and cranny of dust and dirt on his mattress before it set foot in the house. When I shook out his flannel sheets... well, I guess this is what it would be like to be caught in Pigpen's dust cloud .

By then end, he was packing everything and worrying about throwing out stuff later. As a result, we also have a storage rental full of boxes. Every weekend when it's not about the wedding, he has to try and get rid of stuff. My fear is that it won't really happen until we buy a house where he can spread out the junk in a garage - oh joy. Not that he'd keep it, just that we have to drag it around for a little longer so that he can take more time to sort through it all. Ugh. (Thanks goodness I try to throw out or donate at least two boxes of stuff every year.)

It's about day four of living together. I know everything is hunky-dory this week, but I know it's going to start feel weird. After all, it is my place and I haven't made much space for him. I still need to clear half the bathroom drawers for him. We both would love to have a living room that's livable. For someone who's been as messy as Tim, even he finds the random boxes and papers a little frustrating.

The important thing for this week is working on sleep patterns. I need to be at work after 8am. He complains when someone schedules an "early" meeting, meaning 9:30am. His usual work hours start at around 10:30am. That translates into an 11pm wind down time for me whereas he tends to stay on the computer until 1am. This doesn't work when the bathroom is open to the bedroom.

I hear him brush his teeth at night and then he likes to chat in bed for at least 30 minutes before sleeping. I like talking about the day with him too. The thing is that I'm ready to fall asleep before he reaches the bed. In the morning, I feel bad making all kinds of noise at the sink when I know he could be sleeping.

Tim's been very sweet about it. He says he doesn't mind getting up early. He simply does more online reading in the morning. As I left this morning, he promised that we'd go to bed by 11:30pm tonight. It is nice to know he's always there.