Moving (A Life in Boxes)

Jed and Lila are compulsive movers. For them, moving boxes, packing tape, and open houses are the ultimate aphrodisiacs. They meet on a moving day, Jed proposes on a moving day, and they end up moving 18 times in 18 years. Moving defines their lives, their identities. They move for fun, to recover from tragedy, and for new opportunities—until Lila decides she wants them to put down roots, in Boston.

Lila’s decision strains their marriage to its limits. What once brought them together now drives them apart. Jed, a computer programming wiz, takes off on a strange cross-country odyssey as a hired hand on a moving van. Nothing about his marriage or life makes sense anymore, and even his obsessive counting can’t get his mind back on track. Lila ends up in the hospital after accidentally cutting off her fingers (she’s a woodworking instructor) and struggles to both recover and find her husband. They both desperately search for a way back to each other that will make sense of how they’ve changed since they first met and married.

Moving tells the story of a marriage challenged by wanderlust, regular old lust, obsession, infertility and adoption, and race.