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Saturday, September 18, 2010

Moving - It's not for the faint of heart - Or For Old Fat People

I saw some old friends of mine yesterday that I haven't seen in a long time. It was SO good to see them. They even brought tears to my eyes. I lovingly rubbed my hands all over them and thought of all the good times we've had.

No. They weren't people.

I visited my things in storage.

Well, visited sounds like I sat down and had a cup of tea and crumbcakes.

It was more down and dirty than that.

Maybe I'd better explain. We've had some things in storage  for 5 1/2 years or since we've been on the road. Yes, I know. It's silly. It's stupid. The money we've spent on storage could have bought all new furniture.

But there isn't much furniture in storage. I gave  most of it away to my kids. Except for the dresser that Jim SAWED in half because he couldn't get down the stairs (even though, somehow, DUH, the movers were actually able to get it UP the stairs). But I digress.

The only furniture I have in storage is my kitchen set, a beautiful wooden desk and chair, the rocking chair that I ROCKED my babies in, and a shelf that my father made. Granted I could have bought a new table and desk, but I couldn't have REPLACED the rocker or shelf. TOO many memories.

Jim said that he would have just taken pictures of all my possessions, then gotten rid of the stuff. When I missed them, he'd show me the photos.

Nice, I know. That's why I call him, "The Tin Man".

He needs to visit the Wizard of Oz to get a heart.

Anyjunk, back to my story. So. All these years of paying for storage, and the storage place (#1) continually raising their fees, we finally decided to yank our stuff out of there.

And move it to another storage place (#2).

#2 is $100 CHEAPER than #1. It's farther out in the country, and, granted we rented a smaller area, a 10 x 10, instead of a 10 x 15. Everything fit.

Do you know what this means? For 5 1/2 years, I've paid for that extra 5 square feet.  I don't know how much money I threw away, but I could have had a couple of fun days in Vegas at the slots.....maybe even throw in a show or two. Or I could have gone to my favorite restaurant, Bob Chin's, for their most excellent crab legs a few times. I have NEVER seen crab legs so big. NEVAH!

But no. I have a money tree growing in my yard. Do you want a snipping off of it?

Yeah right. As if. I don't even have a BACK YARD!

The #2 place had a truck for our use, which was great. Jim and I drove to #1 with the name of the #2 place plastered all over the truck for ALL THE WORLD TO SEE. It was obvious what we were doing. When I went into the office and informed them that we were vacating our space, he asked me to fill out a little card. It asked for the reason why we were leaving. I couldn't lie now could I? "Found a cheaper place to rent", I scribbled.

We began making our one of a bazillion, million, hundred treks down the long hallway with a couple of carts. We had pep in our step for maybe the first five trips.

It was fun to see my old stuff, like my mix master, my bread machine, my paintings. I have two small wooden rocking elephants that my brother, Bob, made for my kids. That really brought a tear to my eye. As did seeing the clock I took from my parent's house that chimed every hour,  and the magazine rack my Dad made me. Then there was the old dresser I used growing up and that my sister (Linda) wrote a note in the bottom drawer to my twin sister and me. We took several pictures with Jim's phone, but they didn't turn out. The writing is very light in pencil. In the note she wrote something to the fact that she had to give up HER dresser to her sisters "Loran and Hardy", or "Fatso and Skinny". I WAS NEVER FAT as a kid! Pam was always SKINNY! LOOK!

from left to right, Pat, Pam
She continued on that we were always getting into deep, deep holes (trouble).

She's a liar! Liar, liar pants on fire! Nose as long as a telephone wire!

Sorry. I guess I regressed a little there. The point is, how could I get rid of that dresser? That, my friends, is priceless.

I thought I was pretty good at marking what was inside the boxes. But I missed a few (or Jim did). I thought it was funny (at first) when Jim would ask, "What's in this box?"

Seriously? Did he think I MEMORIZED each box and what was in it? I hardly remember what I did yesterday, let alone 5 years ago.

So this was funny the first time he asked me, but by the fourth time, I was ready to hit him over the head with said box, if I had the energy.

We loaded maybe 70% of our stuff in the truck on the first run. Made a quick stop for lunch, and drove the 25 miles to the #2 place. We were dismayed to see that they had no carts for easy unloading. The truck DID come with a dolly, so that was good. The bad news was, that dolly had a hard time standing up for some reason. At one point in the day it fell back and hit me right in the chest and just about knocked the breath out of me.

I was too tired to cry.

It took us a loooonnng time to unload the truck. I had to run out and get some water because Jim was sweating profusely and he was cramping up.

We got stuck in rush hour traffic as we headed back to #1. Jim stopped to buy some Gatorade, and felt better immediately, so his electrolytes needed replenishing.  By this time our son was getting off of work. I called him to help us. I told him dinner would be involved, and it was like holding a carrot in front of a horse's nose. He was there in no time flat.

He took one look at his parents and knew he did the right thing. Because even though he was tired from working a full day of loading trucks, he was NO WAY as tired as his parents.

We got that second truck loaded up pretty quick. Granted it was mostly boxes. Book boxes, I might add. Even though we donated 650 books to the library before we left. Go figure.

We stopped for dinner, then on to storage place #2. We got all our crap stuff in the 10 x 10 space, pulled the door shut, locked it, and called it a day. It was 9:00 pm. We had been working since 10:00 am.

We were tired.

The old gray mare? She ain't what she used to be. And her mate's even MORE ain't what HE used to be.

We drove home in silence. A half hour later we were both showered and lying in bed, listening to our muscles complaining to us.

I turned and said to Jim, "You know, if we were rich, we could order a couple of masseuses over to massage us all over. Wouldn't that feel great?"

Then I thought a minute and said, "What am I saying? If we were rich, we wouldn't be feeling this way to BEGIN with, because somebody else would have done the moving FOR US!"

Jim snored.

20 comments:

Lynda said...

I truly, truly feel for you. After we packed, moved, and unpacked the church library in five days, I really, really, really wondered if my back would ever feel normal again. It was over a week before it did. I don't know what you have for anti-inflammatory but I fell in love with Alleve that week!

Ami said...

Oh goodness. What a long day.
Did you label the boxes that you looked in?


I, too, am very attached to things, although I've already planned to make my kids take ALL THEIR STUFF when they move out.

That will leave me more room for mine.

Unknown said...

ah...the things we would do if we were rich.....

Brian Miller said...

dang. i hate moving...we have only done it like 13 times at this point...sucks. glad that dolly did not ding you too bad...if you were rich someone could move you while you got a massage for just having to think about it...nice.

Anonymous said...

I just went through some boxes last night that have been packed for three yrs(when I moved from my house to moms to take care of her) it was like christmas, I had forgotten some of the items, I enjoyed it so much;)

hugs

A New England Life said...

I just have to say Pat that your husband is a saint! Most husbands would bitch and moan the whole time about having to move their wives stupid crap.

It's hard to let go of the past. I'm just as guilty and it drives my husband crazy. He likes to throw everything away but he deals with my hoarding very well ; )

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

moving could be challenging,
good luck!
smooth sailings.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

This is a VERY sad story and hits a little too close to home! :-)

Kathy's Klothesline said...

I hate moving! I will admit that I like the stroll down memory lane that the job brings, though. Hope you are feeling better soon.

Gail said...

Hard work is good for the soul but heck on the back.

Visting memories is bitter sweet.

Sunny said...

I HATE moving and everything associated with it! I moved almost two years ago to our current house and the only way I'm leaving here is feet first! LOL
I had furniture in storage and ended up spending more to store it that what I paid for it...I fainally got rid of it.
After working so hard, take the rest of the weekend off :)
☼ Sunny

Zyzzyz said...

I'm tired out just reading the story. I never want to move again.

Valerie said...

Pat, my soul ached for you whilst reading this. I couldn't do it, just COULDN'T, not ever. I have moved a few times but won't do it again. NEVER!

Missy said...

I am laughing so hard over your title! You are too funny!
I hate driving in silence...

Lindy said...

Ah storage units...it's a love/hate relationship as far as I'm concerned. I will be sooooo glad when we can spring our stuff out of our unit and get life back to "normal." We may have to borrow your son to help us...invite him to visit you in Arizona in another couple of years, okay?! LOL!

Lindy said...

I forgot to say that's an awfully cute-cute-cute picture of you and your sis! =D

Bossy Betty said...

First of all, I LOVE that picture of you!

Sorting through things is so hard. Really, it's just mentally exhausting!

becky said...

Pat, I can totally relate. I've had stuff in storage for 6 years. In 2009, I cleared out my storage in San Diego (filled up a closet at my Mom's) and moved my stuff to Oregon. Now I have a storage unit there & am in NM! Sometimes I would cry when I went to storage, especially when I'd look at my christmas stuff. I just want to have a permanent place & put up a Christmas tree! And I know about those may trips it takes to carry all those boxes!
Very cute pic of you & Pam, by the way.
How's she doing w/ her dogs?

Janice said...

Been there-done that! Know exactly how you feel. I'll bet going through your stuff was like Christmas in September!

Loved your post and the photos are fantastic!

Betty Manousos said...

Ah, good luck with moving, Pat.
It's such a hard work. I've experienced this for a number of years now.
Love your picture with your sister..very cute!

B xx