Fielder's Choice

It seems I've assisted with a lot of moving in the last 10 years or so.

The most recent came June 6 in Tupelo. My son Andy and daughter-in-law Brooke moved from a downtown apartment to their first house.

It was a big deal, and rightly so, for them.

I sent them a text on June 5, the morning of the closing, and quickly got this response ­ "We're pumped."

I had thoughts of Pam's and my first house. It was a small brick one on Highway 25 North in Fulton ­ an excellent starter home. Our next move was to Aberdeen on Mobile Street and then we sold that one and bought an historic home on South Long Street. Then came our next location, Katherine Street, in Laurel.

In Holly Springs, we first rented on Chulahoma Avenue before buying on Cedar Hills Road. We've been in that house for about 18 years.

Each move had its memories ­ the fondest being the birth of our three children and bringing them home.

Then there are the different pets, pets that we've all loved.

And there was that tumble from the attic in Laurel, while getting boxes, that I survived.

I've battled stairs in many moves ­ starting with The Old Rectory in Aberdeen.

Then I have the memories of moving Emma to the third floor of a dormitory her freshman year. It almost killed me.

We helped move Emma more ­ in college at USM, for grad school at Ole Miss, to an upstairs apartment in Little Rock, Ark., and then into a house in Little Rock.

Then came Andy's first move to college and several ones to different locations in Hattiesburg after that.

He moved a couple of times while working in the Jackson area, and of course we assisted some, and next for him came the apartment in Tupelo last July ­ with stairs, steep and nar row.

We attacked those stairs one more time last weekend.

Thank goodness, there wasn't a lot of heavy stuff, and we had some valuable assistance from Erin's boyfriend Tommy, who will be playing football for Harding University in Searcy, Ark., this fall.

I didn't keep count of how many times I went up and down those stairs that Saturday. But I do know I really felt it on Sunday morning.

So I decided to go back to Tupelo Sunday afternoon and help Andy move a few more things, just to loosen up my joints.

To be honest, I could use those stairs two or three times a week, just to get somewhat in shape.

There's another move on the horizon as our third child, Erin, prepares to go to the University of Southern Mississippi in August. Not that we're trying to get rid of her, by any means, but here's hoping college campuses return to some sort of normal this fall. She missed the last nine weeks of her senior year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and she certainly needs to enjoy the college experience beginning as a freshman.

Her dorm room is on the fourth floor. But thank goodness, unlike the one Emma moved into her freshman year at USM, this one has an elevator.

She's already stockpiling stuff for her room. And I am so excited about helping with another move (not really).