Life in a new place has an edge to it. Every day taunts you with your confusions. You never choose right the first time: that first drawer or cabinet door you open is inevitably the wrong one. Whatever you’re looking for is somewhere else.
You mutter at the builder, who put the pantry next to the refrigerator. It is his fault that you put the eggs in the pantry and the aluminum foil in the refrigerator.
You are grateful for the handy little storage closet, but you cannot seem to navigate it without a ricochet off that lower shelf.
Then one week that edge seems smoother, and you wonder if indeed that is so. Are you really opening the right drawer the first time? Are you no longer finding the paper towels in the freezer? Are you actually retrieving the hammer from the closet without dinging your head?
You allow yourself to take a deep breath and acknowledge that, yes, there is the slightest sense of routine seeping back into your life. Yes, there are still things in storage and much more to be done, but there does seem to be a smoothing of the edge. Ahhhh….
And then, incredulous, you see them: ants! In January! On your desk! Did they hitchhike in from the storage unit? Did they come from outside, enlivened by those warm days last week? Do you care? No! You just want a cannon to blast them out.
You hear them snickering, and you know the edge is still there.
p.s. The black and blue of this post has some ironic meaning, I’m sure, but I have no idea why the two colors happened. Probably the doings of the ants.
Oddments 
January 29, 2018 at 2:45 pm
Love the post because I could relate to it all. But, those ants have to go. Of course, you can buy those traps which are good. On solid surfaces like a countertop, I’ve sprayed Windex and they walk into it and die which, of course, is the plan. We get them in the wet spring, and I hate it every time they decide to visit. I’m not big into spraying pesticides, but a woman has to do what a woman has to do.
January 29, 2018 at 3:31 pm
Windex! Thanks! I’m more in the mood to use the cannon, but Windex would be kinder to my desk. I absolutely agree that a woman has to do what a woman has to do, and when it comes to ants in the house it’s all about what works. I do not intend to share my new digs with these little rotters. You have my sympathies on the matter of their spring visits. They sure know how to make a good day bad and a bad day worse.
January 29, 2018 at 7:16 pm
I continue to read and enjoy everything you so beautifully observe about your life. This time, I can’t begin to count how many disoriented women share the same experience you, as always, describe so humorously. This is another one of your gems.
January 29, 2018 at 8:31 pm
Thank you, Shirah! I believe you can speak with some authority to this whole moving thing!