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How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Moving

By GretchenM

The Players:
GretchenM
Sally, neighbor in old place
Mike, best friend
Chris, neighbor in old place
Jarrod, neighbor in old place
Mark, Gretchen’s son
Brandon, Mark’s friend
Katie, Brandon’s fiancée
Hector, Christy, Sabrina, new neighbors
Baldemar, new neighbor
Mario, new neighbor
Steve, new neighbor
“The Manager”, new place (name withheld)
Jason, maintenance man at new place

Reason for the Move: This may sound like an exaggeration to some, but I assure you it is accurate. I feel as if I have crawled over broken glass through Death Valley, for a very long time, to find a church like the one I found 40 miles from my old home. For the past 14 months, they have had at least one person be healed, and often many people, in each Sunday service. I need a lot of healing. These people are doing an excellent job of getting the love of Jesus into their own hearts and sharing it with others, as well as sending missionaries around the world on a regular basis. They’re my kind of believers.

Dateline:

Saturday, Moving Day Minus One
Sally came over to help pack my kitchen, etc. Thank God for friends!

9 AM Sunday, July 31
The move begins, or was supposed to begin, but the moving truck wasn’t ready. (This is a clue as to how the move went.)

Chris and Jarrod moved boxes out to my parking stall while Mike went after the truck.

10 AM Brandon and Katie arrived in Brandon’s van. Note: showing up to help move someone in a van is a very good idea. I hadn’t met Katie; she’s awesome; 21 years old and studying to be a commercial jet pilot. She graduates, early, this December. I really liked her. Brandon and Katie loaded up the van while I worked inside.

10:30 AM Mike arrived with the truck, and the second wave of loading began.

Mark had to work, had hoped to arrive by 10:30 or 11 AM but couldn’t arrive till 3 PM.
The weather was in excess of 85 degrees. Need I say more.

5:05 PM Sunday
Mike asked me what time the apartment office closes. I had planned to pay the rent and get the keys on moving day, but with the truck not being ready and my son’s late arrival, that salient point was overshot. The office closed at 5 PM. I called the maintenance man, Jason, who said he didn’t know which apartment the resident manager lived in (hello?), and didn’t have her phone number. No problem, says the resourceful Katie: we drive up there and knock on doors till we find a tenant who does know. (The Manager later told me that Jason truly does not have her phone number. Does anyone else find this odd?)

Next problem is we didn’t rent a big enough truck and would have to make two trips, so instead of paying $10 more for a larger truck, I had to pay about $70 more in mileage and waste a lot of time.

Between 6 and 7 PM: We arrived; Steve, a helpful tenant, saved us the door knocking. He had talked to Jason, the maintenance man, so he knew there was a tenant on the way who didn’t have a key and was very helpfully on the lookout. Steve told us where The Manager lived. Eventually, she came to the door and took the rent and gave me the key. This was fortunate, for that night it rained hard and everything I owned would have sat on the lawn in front of my place getting soaked through, being a prey to any thief wandering by, and I wouldn’t have had the help, or dollies, needed to take things up the stairs.

In the run-up to this move, I ran out of my migraine medication and the med that I take for back pain, of which I was experiencing a great deal. My doctor, it turns out, was on vacation. Eventually, his partner filled it after various miscues with the office and pharmacy.

Next problem is Brandon and Katie had to leave for another appointment and couldn’t unload the truck. They had told this to me but somehow Mike missed this valuable information and was getting a bit overwhelmed, knowing the truck had to be returned at 9 AM, 40 miles away the next morning.

He had run out of his most important prescription four days before the move but had been so busy that he hadn’t realized it till the day of the move. He was able to get a refill at the last minute, but being without this had its consequences, and they were very draining.

Sunday evening
For some unknown reason, all exterior lights at the new place were turned off, so we trudged in deep darkness through the breezeway and up the stairs to unload the truck’s contents.

As Mike, Mark and I labored at unloading the truck and car, several neighbors were outside visiting. Here’s where Hector, Christy and Sabrina come in. My son eventually asked Hector if some of the men would mind helping to unload the truck. (Hector had just told his wife, Christy, “If they ask, we will help.” My son told me later that he kept thinking of a lesson I’d taught my mentee, that we cannot assume others will make the first step toward friendship, and sometimes WE have to take the first step.) So Hector, Mario and Baldemar all hauled up the heavy stuff, boxes, much of what remained, till around 10 PM. I am forever grateful to these men.

I chatted a few minutes with Christy and her daughter and some other neighbors who were outside. I don’t know quite how it happened, but Christy, in those few minutes, asked if I would teach her daughter how to read. Sabrina is eight, will be in third grade, but she is reading at a first grade level. At one point, Sabrina, who seemed then and since to be a bright, engaging, fun, creative child, looked up at me and asked, “Will YOU teach me how to read?” I asked her mom if Sabrina is being taught phonics; she didn’t know – the result was I gladly told her I would read TO her, and we could work on what the letters sound like. Sabrina was delighted. Later, Sabrina told me she loves to do arts and crafts, and when I paid a return visit to her and her mom (who had brought me a delicious chocolate and vanilla swirl cake, and then a ham, peas, pasta, cheese and olives salad), Sabrina said, “I know! We can read the Bible and then draw pictures of Jesus and all the other people in the Bible!” I asked her if she loves Jesus and she said, “YES!”

Bad news: my computer desk wouldn’t fit into my room so I had to donate it. I’m using a writing desk with no keyboard tray till I can find a replacement.

Late Sunday evening or early Monday: we had all been sweating profusely in the heat and with the work, but finally the truck was empty. Mike drove the truck back to the old place; I rode with Mark in his truck. There was furniture at my old place that I was giving to my son and he helped load up the remaining furniture in the moving truck, then he had to go home.

Monday, about 1 AM: Mike and I drove back to the new place, getting lost briefly on the return trip when taking an exit to buy diesel in an unfamiliar area, and quietly unloaded the lighter things.

Monday, 3:30 AM Stopped the madness for a few hours.

5:30 AM After Mike got two hours of sleep, he hauled the rest of the heavy stuff up the stairs and took the truck back to the rental place 40 miles away. He returned to drive me back to the old apartment where we spent the next seven hours cleaning till it sparkled. (I wanted my cleaning deposit back!)

Monday night: exhaustion.

One week and a day later: still unpacking.

I learned from Jason that The Resident Manager reamed out Steve for telling us which apartment she occupies. I was rather alarmed and saddened to hear this.

The good news: I get almost constant marine breezes coming Northwesterly off Puget Sound and didn’t have to turn on a fan till it was in the 90’s. Even then, I am not uncomfortable. It’s much quieter here than where I was. Only two things broke, and both were at my hands; each was plastic and very inexpensive. I relieved myself of many possessions which I didn’t have room for, that have become a blessing to others, and even the giving of them opened the door to sharing a bit of the gospel with some. I have a church home that I’ve hungered for and needed for years. When we need something, as I have needed this church, and it is withheld from us for a very long time, we appreciate it with much more fervor than if we hadn’t had to wait for it.

Even though I live in the middle of a large city, surrounded by large cities, there are forests and protected, forested wetlands on three sides of me, and just about every store I need is within a couple minutes’ drive.

The future: looks great!