I recently moved, and in case you didn't know, moving is No. 3 in the top five most stressful things in your life. No. 2 is divorce, and No. 1 is death of a loved one. Having just moved, I can tell you with certainty that No. 3 can often be the cause of No. 2 and No. 1.

Of course, this might sound silly, especially considering all that's going on in the world, but the motive for murdering one's spouse can never be taken lightly. Which is why moving is No. 3 on that list.

It's not that my husband wasn't helpful with the move. It was that he was TOO helpful. For instance, when we were packing boxes, he put the living room pillows in with the bedroom comforter.

I'm sure he was thinking, "Hey, these are all soft things. Let's put them in a box together."

But I was thinking, "WHAT, ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU CAN'T PACK LIVING ROOM STUFF WITH BEDROOM STUFF."

As anyone with two X chromosomes would tell you, the key is not to make it easy to pack. ... The key is to make it easy to unpack. You want all your boxes to be packed for their own specific rooms. This makes complete sense to me and all my X chromosomes, but apparently something on the Y chromosome makes it difficult to comprehend. This is why I yell, "Y, Y, Y did you put the kitchen stuff in with the bathroom stuff?"

The issue is, if my husband does indeed put the kitchen stuff in with the bathroom stuff, it would mean I would have to run back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom to unpack that box.

Horrible, right? Who would do such a thing?

A HUSBAND!

Now, it's not like I am an expert in these things. I'm a professional writer, not a professional packer. But I do know that if I packed his deodorant in with the olive oil, he wouldn't be able to find it, he would freak out, dogs and cats would start sleeping together, there would be mass hysteria, and we'd end up having to call a search-and-rescue team to find the missing deodorant.

The other thing you have to do when moving is use a Sharpie and write the name of the room that the box is for in BIG LETTERS so the movers would know where to put it. Otherwise, a box with bedroom stuff could end up in the living room, and it would be mass hysteria all over again. (My hysteria, I mean. Mine.)

Seeing that my plan of action could devolve into chaos, I took him aside and womansplained to him the strategies for packing boxes that he was obligated to comply with.

He looked at me like I had two heads and was on the train to Crazytown. Then, he said he wouldn't be able to remember all the rules, and I should just pack all the boxes myself. Which was fine with me, even though it took A LOT more time since it was just me doing all the work. But I didn't resent him a bit. ...

And I only smiled a little when I put his deodorant in with the olive oil.

Tracy Beckerman is the author of the Amazon Bestseller, "Barking at the Moon: A Story of Life, Love, and Kibble," available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble online! You can visit her at www.tracybeckerman.com.

Photo credit: Dina Badamshina at Unsplash