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5 Things Moving with a Calabrese Taught Me

I consider myself a veteran mover. After all, in my lifetime, I've moved house 24 times!! But this last move (and I swear it will be the LAST MOVE) was an eye-opening experience. Here's what I learned.



  1. It's Going to Involve a Lot of People

Again, I'm used to moving. I'm not afraid to pack a million boxes, nor tote them up and down stairs. But when you move with a Calabrese, you move with his entire family, in the sense that they all want to get involved. Of course, the fact that we were moving into a home the family owned also meant they were invested in us getting moved.


The plus side was that Fra's brother, father, cousin, and friends all helped carry our furniture down five flights of stairs in Soverato and up a bajillion stairs in Davoli. They also moved the couch upstairs (more on that harrowing experience in a minute).

The downside of so many people being involved is that when we had the house painted, everyone had an opinion, and all opinions were contrary to mine! In the end, everyone agrees that the bold colors we chose look great. So take that, Calabria!


  1. There is No Option Other than Piano, Piano



Uggg. I am so sick of people telling me piano, piano, with regards to getting settled in our new home. I'm the type who wants to be unpacked with pictures on the wall within a week.


Not so in Calabria.


First, the painting didn't get started until after we had to be out of our Soverato apartment. Which meant that we stayed with the parents, and the cats stayed in the apartment below our house.


There are still things I'm impatiently waiting for, like window screens (the skeeters in summer are no joke, ya'll). And we still have some furniture in my lab in Soverato, and I'm waiting to coordinate a time everyone can help with that move.


So...yeah. Everything goes slower when you move in Calabria.


  1. It's Not Impossible to Move a Couch...



Our new house has a spiral staircase to the upstairs, which means that you can only carry so much. I asked how they'd gotten the two couches that were in the living room there, and they pointed at the window.


Well. It took eight men (and eight very loud opinions) a couple of hours to tie cords to the couches that were here and lower them...then do the same in reverse for our giant, heavy couch. I cringed every time it scraped the side of the house, but Big Red arrived unscathed, if a bit traumatized.


  1. Privacy? Don't Make Me Laugh

I knew that moving to Davoli meant we would be more social, seeing as how everyone (all 600 of them) knows everyone. But I didn't count on Betta. She's a distant cousin, and she lives in the house across and up from ours. And she's always on her balcony doing laundry (homegirl does a lot of laundry for someone who I think lives alone!). Anyway, she always greets us and we chat for a bit. But sometimes...once I made the mistake of going on the balcony in short sleeves. It was a bit breezy, but I run hot (thanks, hot flashes).


"Su, aren't you cold?"


"No, Betta. I'm good. Thanks!"


Being in an Italian community means getting everyone's opinion, specifically about dressing warm enough! I'll adapt.


  1. Living Here is the Best



Okay, sure, Fra's friend Santino has been telling me for years that Davoli rocks, but I was into living in Soverato. But now that we're here, I see it. It's so tranquil. Everyone asks how we sleep, and the truth is: better than ever. There's no car noise. No drunk teens buying weed at the machine down below (a thing in our old place). Just a rooster without a clock and the occasional dog.


It will take me time to adjust to having such a social experience living in Davoli, but it was absolutely the right choice.

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