How Do I Hate Moving? Let Me Count The Ways...

I've moved too much. I'm sure there are military brats that would say I have hardly moved at all compared to their cross-country childhoods, but as I am faced with packing up all my crap again, I'm inspired to count just how many times I've moved from one house to another.

I was born in Seattle, Washington. As far as I know we only lived in one house in Seattle after I was born, and then moved to:

1. Sylmar, California. My parents decided to move out of LA when they learned that a clerk at a grocery store they frequented had been hacked to death in the store with a hatchet taken from a camping display. Gross, right?
2. Mollala, Oregon to stay with my maternal Grandparents until we found a house in
3. Oregon City, Oregon. This is the first house I have actual memories of. Very vague memories.
4. Portland, Oregon. We lived in a Victorian house in the Hawthorne district on Yamhill street. My parents bought this house with the idea of fixing it up, but didn't realize how much that would take. We had two cats at this house: Mocha and Smudgie. One Saturday morning on the way to church my mom accidentally stepped on Mocha who was hidden in the shadows of the stair landing. Mom was wearing heels and Mocha was wearing claws. He showed Mom's calf his claws.
5. Portland, Oregon. We moved into a house on Clinton street. I had the chicken-pox at this house while I was six. I also had a neighbor friend named Jennifer who had red hair.
6. Portland, Oregon (Officially unincorporated Multnomah County at the time...). I started elementary school in Second Grade right as we moved onto a culdesac on 174th. This is the first house I actually remember the full address of. We had two cats, Scamperoo and Twerp. We lived here until the middle of Seventh Grade when we moved again to...
7. Portland, Oregon. SE Halsey Street. This house is no longer standing because it was on land that was re-zoned commercial. While we were in this house I had my first boyfriend. His name was Nathan and I got nauseous every time he sat down next to me. I also got my first dog while living at this house - a puppy from the pound. We named him Huey.
8. Days Creek, Oregon. I went to boarding school for all four years of high-school. The summer after my freshman year I lived for a few months with my aunt and uncle in
9. Mt. Shasta, California. This is where I crashed my mountain bike.
10. Days Creek, Oregon. Back to school for my sophomore year, and I stayed at the school and worked during the summers between my sophomore and junior year and my junior and senior year. One of these summers my parents moved to another house in
11. Portland, Oregon. A little tiny house. A house that is also no longer standing because it was plowed under and had apartments built over the top. I lived at this house during the summer after my senior year of high school and then I went to college in
12. College Place, Washington. I lived in an apartment in the attic of my aunt's house. This is where I lived when I became engaged (the first time). I only lasted at this college for a quarter and moved back to the tiny house in
13. Portland Oregon. Not long after my return, my parents divorced (I was 19 at the time). My mom and I stayed in the tiny house and my dad found a house a few miles away. I spent much of the next two years staying at friends houses, especially during the summer of 1996 when I worked at a daycamp. In 1998 I moved to
14. Vancouver, Washington to live in my boyfriend's parents extra bedroom. Of course, he lived there too. Convenient. During this time I was engaged for the second time (the engagement lasted about two weeks). I moved into his brother and sister-in-law's extra bedroom in 1999 during one of our many breakups and then moved from there to my mom's new house in
15. Portland, Oregon for a few months. Then I got engaged and married (to a whole 'nother random guy) and moved to
16. Moyie Springs, Idaho. We lived in a tiny chalet for about 2.5 months. I was miserable and so was our marriage. We adopted a cat named Crispin who I consider to be my life-saver. We moved then to
17. Hermiston, Oregon for three weeks and lived in a trailer on my in-law's property while we waited for our apartment in
18. College Place, Washington to open up. Our marriage ended in practicality very shortly after this move and I moved with Crispin to my first apartment of my very own in
19. Vancouver, Washington. I was proud of my first pad, it even had a fireplace. I purchased furniture from a friend for $5 a piece (he was taking it to the dump anyway). I also bought another cat - a kitten I dubbed Minx. I also got back together with the boyfriend from location 14. We moved together to a bigger apartment in
20. Vancouver, Washington in the Fisher's Landing neighborhood. We also gained a roomate, Chris. Chris brought along his baby alligator named Moose, a corn snake, a tarantula, a leopard gecko and a snake-head fish. I retaliated by purchasing what was supposed to be a siamese-mix kitten we named Chou. Crispin passed away trying to cross a busy street, so we got yet another kitten (a real siamese this time) named Maui. We had great neighbors here that became life-long friends, but ultimately needed more room. We moved about a half mile away to a townhouse in
21. Vancouver, Washington in a complex called "The Springs". We lived here until Old Boyfriend and I broke up, he and Animal Guy moved out and got their own place. I lived alone for a couple of months, then my mom lived with me for three months while she was looking for a new house, and then she moved out and my friend Andy moved in. Andy and I lived together in the townhouse for about 10 months and then purchased a house together in
22. Vancouver, Washington. Then I went to Vegas and met Scott. I got to spend all of six months in my very first house and then packed Minx, Chou and Maui in the Honda and moved to
23. Key West, Florida. We've been here for 17 months and are moving into a house nearby.
I think that's a lot of times to pack up your stuff. I'm tired of packing and I've hardly started!