S NIMH RS.
To me, this evokes the movie The Secret of NIMH, which our family loved for a single line. The movie centers on a family of rats, who live in a farmer's field. Every year, the farmer plows his field, forcing the rats to relocate. The rats call the day of plowing "moving day", and the key line is, "It's moving day! Run for your lives!"
I have always felt this way about moving day, and this week has brought it back in spades. My wife rescued her mother last Thanksgiving. Her mother's house was infested with bedbugs and a sub-foundation plumbing leak had caused a mold problem. Mrs. AZLiberty extracted her mother from her house in Amarillo, decontaminated her, and brought her to our house in Arizona.
This week I brought my MIL back to Amarillo to deal with her house, a long-delayed consequence of "moving day". The plan was to rent a truck, fill it with a few important things, drive back to Arizona, pay someone else to deal with the rest of the stuff, and finally use one of those "ugly houses" companies to get rid of the house.
It was worse than I imagined. The poor dear had inherited everything from her parents (because both her siblings died around age 50), from an ex-husband, and from a second husband. People talk about cats having nine lives. My MIL was carrying the baggage of almost that many lives (including furniture built by her grandfather), and -- being a child of depression -- found it difficult to let go of anything. A four-bedroom house was so full of stuff that there was barely a path to walk into any of the rooms of the house, including the living room and the laundry room.
We've spent a week picking through the stuff and now have on the truck far more than she can possibly accommodate in her apartment in Arizona. Some of it is documents that she didn't have time to sort through, including important information about a variety of small oil leases. Another part is a large collection of vintage 78s and LPs, which she'll sell once she catalogues them.
Tomorrow we head back to Arizona. "It's moving day! Run for your lives!"
Don’t envy you, but take the time to look through it all. Use ebay for a gauge of value. You’d be surprised what even a red plastic 1950’s anusol suppository box filled with flathead wood screws goes for with out the screws.
I took my dad in and later had to sort through the boxes I moved during moving day.bed bugs are no joke.
I would not put a thing in my house with the possiblity they might be bedbugs in a beddframe or dresser. Be careful. Grammy moths in old oatmeal is a nono too.
Your courage and strength leaves me speechless. Kudos to you for not just saving your MIL, but those memories of her past and her family history. There’s an invisible medal on your chest that reads HERO and shines. Those who love you see it! Well done!
No, the Frisbee/Brisbee family are mice. The rats help them move.
God bless you and your MIL and your wife during this very challenging “Run for your lives - it’s MOVING DAY!” challenge.
The plight you describe for many is quite real and difficult.