When I worked at a university, the term “unpacking” was fashionable to describe what students could expect to do in a given course (“We will unpack societal constructs of …”).

And now that we have been here in a new spot for more than a week and I have designated today to be The Day That I Will Clear Out These Damn Boxes, unpacking is very real. You open a box, and piece by piece, examine the objects that you’ve carried with you and decide if you’re going to keep carrying them around or let them go.

It’s a metaphor, maybe, that perhaps works on several levels (particularly if you’re 51 and your youngest child is going to college next week and you are now living in a brand new place). Way to go, academic folks, for introducing the idea to people who are at a phase of their lives where they are just starting to fill up those boxes.

Academics. So smart.