Aug 9, 2012

The Best Laid Plans

It's hard to settle down tonight. I ran down the list. First, a little snack since dinner was a green salad. Something carbohydratie. I drank a full bottle of water for hydration.  I notice dehydration mostly at night. Now I'm on to taking 1/2 a melatonin and blogging until it kicks in.

The sense of relief is most visible now that we aren't laying awake at night thinking of all the impossible scenarios if the house in town had not been approved for sale and sold.  It did sell and the buyers are seeing it through, the bank is cooperating, and it appears a happy ending will be had by all.  In these times, it feels downright astonishing to say that.

We had been hoofing over our stuff little by little to the country house and had THE PLAN for the big move.  THE PLAN was basically for the boys to move the heavier pieces and get us in, those things we couldn't move on our own.  That would be an enormous help. Over the next several weeks we would move over the lighter accessory pieces, clothes closets and whatnot, and take our time, and finish it up.

We picked Aug 4-5 as a likely weekend to execute THE PLAN which was 2 full weeks away, and confirmed with the boys. And a couple of days later, the boys jettisoned that weekend for a more convenient one when they were taking a motorcycle class in town and, by the way, could they stay with us? 

Oh sure.  But having the moving date moved up a week meant that it was just 4 days off. So we began a mad pack in paper boxes from work, trying to prepare. I took some time off work.

And all through this, the hubs' and I clung to THE PLAN, and on moving day turned them loose on packing the truck. The boys are really good at moving, really really good. Nothing was scratched or broken. They were fast and efficient. And in no time the first phase was done.

One might think I would see it coming, the moment when THE PLAN would inevitably be abandoned in favor of just bringing it all over at one time.  We had the truck, they had the time, so why not?  Son Reasoning 101. (I'm sure they wanted it to be over.)

That unfortunately happened on Day 1. It created a bit of a vacuum on the other end, as we didn't know THE PLAN had changed.  So we celebrated as all the big pieces came in, dressers were reassembled, bedrooms and the livingroom set up, and we sat back really pleased, only to see the truck tail lights disappearing down the road because they were going back for another load.  

Another load of WHAT? Books and TVs and stereos and lamps and wall units, collectibles and mementos, tables and chairs ~ all the things we hadn't precisely mapped out destinations for because they weren't part of THE PLAN. It all came marching in with furious efficiency and speed, and the house instantly resembled a cave in with us trapped inside.

It was probably best not to know ahead of time, don't you think? And they were right about one thing: getting it over and done with meant we have not needed to call in reprise reinforcements.

We are still buried, but things are finding homes. We work our days and then head to the town house for patio furniture and potted plants and board games, hoofing it to the farm.  Or work through a box or two in the hallway or upstairs in the storeroom.

Now it's on to the garage!  (I wish I were joking.) The garage is a plethora of amazing things and cabinets full of woodworking tools and fishing rods and camping stuff.  It's got to go somewhere, and fast.

So this part of the journey will involve a POD, a portable storage container that is dropped off on the driveway, to be filled and delivered to the new house. It's a rentable, storage unit on wheels.  The soon-to-be garage is on the Building Inspector's desk for permit approval, and this will keep our garage gear handy until that goes up. And, honestly - best of all - we will only move it once: from the garage in town > POD = POD > country garage.  It's a good PLAN.

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