There are certain truths that are universal. They crop up in every culture, regardless of religion, creed, race, or preference in toothpaste. "A buttered piece of toast will fall butter side down," that's one. "If it's too good to be true, it probably is," a cliche' for a reason! Here's one that's heavy on my mind these days... "Moving sucks."

There's a reason God punished the Israelites by making them move for 40 years. Can you imagine? Every day you pick up your stuff, shove it into shoe boxes and garbage bags and hike on over the next rise to a deluxe apartment near the Dumpster (TM!). What punishment could be worse than that? The fires of Hades would seem like a sauna in comparison.

Over the past two months, I've been moving... a lot. I've moved not only from my house in West Columbia to an apartment in Houston, but also from my home office to an office building. But the fun doesn't stop there! At the exact same time that I'm cramming MY stuff into a UHAUL (TM!), I'm also moving my MOTHER! So, friends and neighbors, I have tasted the Israelite Curse and found it bitter and unsavory!

I'm too thick-headed to pay movers. No, no... one look at the price tag and I say, "That's crazy! I'd rather just move it all myself than PAY someone to move it!" And then, of course, I shill out a few hundred bucks on truck rentals, gas money for friends, meals for those who help me, etc. Before you know it, I've spent TWICE as much on moving as I would have before and it takes me a month to get it all done.

Experiences like this make me seriously consider the cons of setting fire to all my belongings and starting over elsewhere.

But there are bright sides to moving -- really! For one, the new apartment comes complete with some new neighbors who are actually very nice, and who offer the added benefit of looking after the place while I'm gone, shoo-ing people away from the cars in the parking lot, and offering the odd meal to a hungry and sweaty guy who has been moving all week. Verbose, but heartwarming, isn't it?

And in many respects, I'm moving on up ("to the East side"). My apartment is much bigger than my house was (I know! Shocking!), and it offers certain amenities that I had heretofore learned to do without. Little things like a garbage disposal, a dishwasher, and multiple bathrooms -- these are things that I never realized I needed so badly until they were gone.

So, I'm a philosophical kinda guy... what sort of Zen moment can I take from this experience? For starters, it's the first time in my life that I've been at least SOMEWHAT accepting of change. Moving into the apartment and getting out of my home office has been a HUGE change in my life, but it's also been rewarding and exciting, and I feel that it's been a chance to grow and learn a little more about life in general and me in particular. My girlfriend, Kara, has learned a lot about me, too... and she's still around so I guess I'm "live-with-able."

At any rate, I'm back in business (so to speak). My short hiatus has come to an end and I can now get back to the job of informing, entertaining, irritating and discombobulating you, my dear and faithful readers. It feels good to be home!

J. Kevin Tumlinson is the Editor for ViewOnline Magazine at www.viewonline.com. He holds a Masters in Education and has won numerous awards for writing fiction and non-fiction. You may reach him via e-mail at kevin@viewonline.com. He is very moved by your concern.