Moving Day Drama

Sunday evening, May 21: Here I sit on the stairs of our soon-not-to-be-ours house, and I’m so tired that this is the only thing I can do. It’s too early to go to bed, I don’t have any books I want to read, and there’s no TV. And pretty much no internet, although once in awhile I can get a faint waft of Xfinity wifi. So I’m writing a post! Aren’t you flattered!

What a day! And we’re still not done with the packing up and moving, but I think we’re going to be able to walk into closing tomorrow and hand over the keys. There was a point today around 6:30 when I took a look around at all the stuff that still needed to be moved and thought, “We aren’t going to make it.” And then my phone rang, and it was Jim. “Guess who just called me? Jet Movers!” We had decided that we were going to have to hire some movers for the biggest stuff, as we had a wonderful crew but of the guys present we had 1) Jim, 2) my brother, who has a bad back, 3) Gideon, who has two collapsed vertebra, and 4) our friend Rob, who is undergoing chemo for lymphoma but who keeps going even though his neck and feet give him problems. Even Jim couldn’t carry the heavy upstairs bedroom furniture by himself. So Kaleem and Richard showed up and started tossing our furniture around like feathers. (But they were careful.) In less then two hours they had the big stuff all done, just as it started raining. Whew!

Monday, May 22: Closing Day! All I can say is: We aren’t packrats! Where did all this stuff come from? I’d think we were about done and realize that there were still little outposts of stuff sitting around. I’d start to panic and then think, “Just keep your head down and do what you can.” Gideon had to come home from work anyway because we needed his key, which we had forgotten to get from him. He was pressed into service. Then Jim realized that, since he’d switched vehicles with our pastor so he could use Josh’s truck, he didn’t have his garage door opener. So he had to spend about 45 minutes retrieving it. Oh man! He got back to the house at about 3:45. Closing was supposed to be at 4:00, pushed back from the original 2:00. I thought we’d just have to call and re-schedule for the next day, but honestly! Jim sprinted. That’s all I can say. At some point he called the hapless title company and told them that we’d be there by 4:30, and he actually made it. (I missed a turn.) The actual closing was pretty anti-climactic, as the buyers had come in that morning to sign. So it was just us and the nice woman in charge of our paperwork, which was much less than when you buy a house. I’ve been involved in selling two houses but wasn’t present at either closing, so I didn’t realize how minimal it would be. We were out of there in 20 minutes.

Of course I wish I’d done things differently. First and foremost, there was a lot I could have done ahead of time, lots of packing up of things I don’t use all that often. I think I was just in denial, telling myself that there wasn’t really all that much to do. Ha! I do indeed try to keep things sorted out and pared down, but a house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, a kitchen eating area and a dining room, a living room, a family room, an office . . . .well, you get the picture. But it all (except for the compost tumbler, the tomato cages, and a wheelbarrow full of miscellaneous garden items) is now either donated, in the U-Haul pods or sitting here in this house. I told Jim this morning that since everything is so disorganized I don’t have any choice about starting to sort things out. We have to have the basement completely clear tomorrow for the carpet installers. That’s the next big step, and then the one after that is finishing the kitchen.

Well, enough moving drama for now. I will reiterate Gretchen Rubin’s principle that “It’s okay to ask for help.” Actually, my brother and sister-in-law simply informed us they were coming, and they were on the job Saturday and Sunday. Without them there’s no way we’d have made it. So a big thank you to them! Lowell and Jan were on this end, helping with panicked unloadings. Jan made a lovely dinner last night to welcome us. We are blessed!

I hope by the end of June to be somewhat sorted out. My plans to have a Memorial Day cookout have been pushed back to Labor Day. That morning when I sit out on the patio drinking my coffee is coming!