Box Hunting Adventures

So today I introduced some of my friends to my most recent obsession. For those of you just joining us, the obsession I'm referring to is the acquisition of boxes. See....I'm moving classrooms. I'm also a pack rat. If you take the fact that I've been teaching for 17 years and I don't throw anything out, you can imagine how much stuff I have to pack. I'm trying to clean stuff out as I pack, but so far, I've mostly packed books. Throwing out a book is very hard for me. I think most teachers feel the same way. I haven't gotten to the other stuff like film canisters and fishing line. Those things will be easier to chunk. (I have plenty of those items that need chunking.)


Let's just put it this way....I've currently got 34 boxes packed and it doesn't look like I've even started packing. So you can imagine how many boxes I'm going to need. Which leads me to explain my extended drives to and from work.


If you've ever moved, you know that liquor boxes are great. They aren't too big, so that means that you won't pack them so full that you can't pick it up later, and the boxes are pretty thick since most of them hold multiple glass bottles. Our town, as best I can figure, has 5 liquor stores that I know of. Note that I said know of ....not, know. Three of them are on the main highway through town, and the other two are off the main drag. I've found myself driving the long way past as many of these stores as possible in the hopes that I'll come across some boxes. There was one time this week that I was going to swing through Krystal's for some breakfast, but I thought that instead I'd use some of that time looking for boxes, since I've never looked for them in the morning. I ended up being thrilled because I scored 13 boxes that morning!!!!


Just so you know, this new obsession means that I've got lots of boxes stacked up in my classroom. If you add to this that I've got a dear friend that owns two businesses and receives shipments daily and she's saving those boxes for me, then it's no surprise to know that I'm not "box poor." So my compulsion to look for liquor boxes hasn't been as keen over the last few days.


So imagine my thrill today when I'm going to lunch with some teacher friends and all three of them started complaining that they needed more boxes. I suggested that we swing by the liquor stores on the way back and maybe we'd get lucky. The only thing better than finding boxes for myself is finding boxes for others. So we swung by four of the stores and got 18 boxes. Score!!!! The only thing to dampen my spirits is that it was totally pouring rain and we all got soaked as we ran around getting the boxes in the car. We filled her trunk and each of us had two or three boxes in our laps. It ended up great though...each of my friends got 6 boxes and I got to indulge in my latest obsession once more. It was fun.


Don't think for a moment that I won't indulge my obsession again soon....after all, I still have about 1,006 more boxes to pack..... That means I still have many liquor store trips to make. You'll know it's me....I'll be driving around, slowly looking for the perfect box....which in this case means that it's cardboard. The rest is negotiable.