I don't think there is anyone alive who will tell you that moving is fun. We may like the end result of packing up all of our
shit belongings, putting them on a moving truck and unloading them at a new place but the process itself is definitely not my definition of fun.
Take, for instance, the packing part. I had been in AZ since January, with only 2 brief trips back to NY. I left a list for my kids to follow, of what I thought needed to be done in order to get ready for the move. I arrived back in NY on June 3 for the movers to come and pack up the house. Guess how much of that list was done before I got back? Yup, just as much as you think (probably less than what you think because you may be nice and are giving my teenagers the benefit of the doubt that they don't deserve.)
So, there was a lot more for the movers to pack up into boxes than I would have liked. That's probably something common to just about every move but I still felt bad that they had to deal with our
crap stuff. At the end of day 1, there were boxes every where! While I was grateful that they were doing the packing (because that meant I didn't have to), there is something very weird about having someone else pack your things.
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| Boxes everywhere! Nope, we didn't want to try and sit on the living room couch at all... |
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| The dog's bed is somewhere behind and among all of those boxes. |
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| Take out for dinner! Can't do any cooking in this kitchen! |
The first day also included taking apart Matthew's bunk beds so Trent and the kids went to stay at his mom's house while I stayed at the house with the dog. She was so confused by all of the boxes in her way. She was used to navigating through a maze of Hermann droppings left all over the living room but this was a bit much, even by our standards! I think it seemed more overwhelming because our house isn't that big to start with and the boxes were spread out into every available corner around all of the furniture.
Day 2 of packing was interesting. The day 2 guys were complaining about how much was left because they couldn't believe how little the day 1 guys got done. By the time they left, the basement was barely touched. So, Emily and I came back down to the house after having dinner with my mother-in-law to spend the night at the house and try to tackle more of the packing in the basement. We made a little bit of a dent but there was a ton of stuff down there and it was late. I was up until 2 am before I recognized that I needed to get some sleep to make it through the next day. (If only I didn't need and
like sleep!)
Day 3 was load the truck day. The driver had told us that he was going to be there around 8 am. Two crews showed up that morning. A team of 3 guys were there to finish packing the basement. The second team of 3 guys were there to start loading the boxes and furniture into the truck. I was back in the kitchen when 2 of the loading guys came through the kitchen to the back of the house. They introduced themselves to me and seemed like nice guys. I thought they were going out to the deck to start moving the outdoor furniture and grills. Little did I know that they were actually walking through the house to walk out the back door and take off because they didn't want to do the work! I am still scratching my head at that one. You sign up for a job as a mover - what did you think you were going to be doing?
Anyway, the driver was understandably upset and tried to get another crew to come over but summer is a busy time to move so there was no other crew. Thank goodness they had sent three guys to pack because two of the packers became loaders and started loading the truck. These guys were great and I don't think I could ever fully thank them for how they worked that day.
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| Do you see how he is carrying those boxes? They are on his back, piggy back style! I never could do that ! |
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| Staging area. It seemed like there was no way it would all get loaded on the truck at certain points of the day. |
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| I was amazed at how they stacked everything to maximize space and get it all to fit. |
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| At 7:45pm, they were all loaded and ready to get on the road.It was a long day! |
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I forgot to take pictures of the empty house but it was really weird to walk back in there and see all of our stuff gone. We spent the rest of that weekend going through the rooms, cleaning out garbage and doing the first clean of everything. Matthew and Molly still had a couple of weeks left of school so we had to make sure that they could get in the house and have a spot to do homework. They were very glad that I had left the wifi on since their grandmother does not have internet access at her house. And to think that we all survived in the pre-internet days! lol
