As of roughly 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, 2008, my wife, Tiffany, our daughter, Lizzie, and I become official residents of Demopolis.

Since June 23 we’ve called a hotel room home and we owe a huge thank you to the staff there for their hospitality and their understanding.

I’m sure it’s not often they can overlook a kickball game in the second-floor hallway but when you’ve got a 4-year-old suffering from a lack of a backyard, a deficiency of toys and missing her dog they always managed to look the other way.

For the past three months we came to know most any employee of a restaurant or fast food establishment on a first-name basis. We know most of your menus by heart. Lizzie and I also have what we consider our own parking stall at Sonic where we made too many 8 p.m. ice cream runs to count.

The seemingly endless piles of boxes awaiting unpacking are a daunting task. Each night when I get home I look at one of those boxes and say, “I’m going to unpack this one. If I unpack one box a day, we’ll be done in no time.” Then my head rotates to the living room where my recliner – a recliner I’ve seldom seen since the spring – calls my name. I’ve yet to unpack the first box.

As you read this I’ll likely be knee deep in cardboard and paper. What better time to unpack than a weekend?

One full day of aggressive ripping, stacking, unwrapping and hanging and it should all be over. All the things we’ve gone so long without should be in their rightful place where we’ll probably forget about them again.

In the coming days we will retrieve Lizzie’s dog – a basset hound named Ruff, who has been living with my Grandmother – and our family will once again be complete.

As my family has worked its way through this transition, we appreciate your hospitality over the past three months.

Our new friends, neighbors and acquaintances have made what could have been an unpleasant 84 days an enjoyable experience.

It’s obvious we made the right decision in coming here and we’re glad to finally be homeowners in our new home.

Jason Cannon is publisher of The Demopolis Times.