That’s what they say. Life’s circumstances have fortunately limited the number of times I’ve moved. The most recent move was just before Thanksgiving when I left my apartment of eight years for New York to move in with my girlfriend. I was looking forward to every facet of this move, what it meant to me personally, with one exception – the move itself.I’ve had less than sparkling experiences with moves before (see blog entry from May) and was thus determined to make this move as positive an experience as possible. I began by avoiding the truck rental company I had the misfortune of using in 2003. And I shall forever rave about Penske! I can’t name a flaw that I had with this company. The truck was available at the location and at the time I expected. The truck was in good condition and fairly priced.
I thought I’d done myself a service by beginning the packing process weeks in advance. In fact, I still recommend it even though it means living amongst boxes and crates. There’s still plenty of small items which can’t be packed until the last moment and much that can’t be done until the day the truck arrives. For that reason this begets a comedy which anyone who has moved recently will readily understand.
Those last few boxes contain the most random assortment of items – I swear the final box had a box of bags, an extension cord, a rubber band ball, a light jacket, a bag of apples, a Sharpie, and a copy of newspaper printed the day I was born. And that’s basically what the back of the Penske truck looks like. You take such care to load the truck in an organized fashion – the mattress and box spring first, some large or heavy furniture to pack it in, and then a nice lasagna of boxes and fragile glass wrapped in towels. But then there’s the final few feet in the truck which have random loose items – the vacuum cleaner, some wall hangs, a bag of groceries, and boxes uselessly marked “miscellaneous”. If you scrutinize the first few feet of the truck it’s a thing of beauty. It looked like I’d drawn out a plan weeks in advance and designed the perfect Tetris. If you examined the last few feet of the truck, you’d think I was forced to move my whole life in fifteen minutes!
Regardless, with only rain as my battle enemy on this move, by all accounts it was a success. I could not have possibly done this without the help of my parents who I thank deeply. They put their life on hold during one of their busiests seasons as retailers to come down to Washington and see me through the process every step. And I must also thank my girlfriend who was so amazingly calm when I unloaded the truck and my pile of boxes started to consume parts of our living room. She greeted me with a plant stand for my Lily, a giftcard to a local carwash since my other baby now needs to be parked outside, a blanket for the pup to sit on in my car, sweats for lounging, and peanutbutter brownies in the shape of a couch to welcome me home.
Feeling the love.