Thursday at 8 the packers showed up. They set to work dismantling things in a cheerful and efficient manner. Or maybe 'cheerful' was just Mommy's mood. She had been waiting for them like the Magi had been waiting for Baby Jesus to be born. Words can't express the gratitude of a tired mom watching all her wordly goods being cleaned, organized, and packed into neat little boxes. This was a greatly anticipated day, and it did not disappoint.
Even more exciting to Mommy was the fact that the kids would not be on the scene to witness the process. Several kind people had warned me that the kids might be traumatized by watching all their belongings get taken apart and whisked out of sight. We decided they were better off away for the day. Our good friends Ben and Marieliza stepped in and volunteered to take all three kids all day AND feed us all dinner when they were done. Wow! As you can see, the girls passed the day by eating... all day long... and they even texted pictures to reassure us that everything was going well.
By noon the house looked like this...
... and by three they were pulling out. Amazing! Craig and I stood for a moment in our empty house, collapsed in the recliner, and slept until dinnertime. It was so great!
We were a little concerned about what the kids would think of the new home décor when we brought them home and got them to bed. It ended up being a huge hit!
Carrie: Boxes!
Melina: Boxes! Boxes, Mommy! Boxes, Mommy!
Carrie: I see boxes, Mommy! I see boxes, Mommy! I see boxes, Mommy! I see boxes, Mommy! I see boxes, Mommy! I see boxes, Mommy! I see boxes, Mommy! I see boxes, Mommy! I see boxes, Mommy! I see boxes, Mommy!
Devon: Presents! Our whole house is full of presents! What are in these presents?
Mommy: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, Devon!
The feeling of anticipation continued through the next early morning, as the kids awoke eager to tear into all the boxes. Mommy got everyone dressed in our new warm clothes we purchased for our new life.
Ally Kitty took her place in the kennel where she will spend the next few weeks. She's not a fan of her kennel, but even less of strange houses and new places, so she'll be plenty happy there for long days and Mommy can take her out for kitty time at night.
Loading day ended up being long and tedious. First of all, with the kids around Mommy and Daddy had to be constantly vigilant. I am well acquainted with Devon's ninja skills, but the movers are not. I didn't want him suddenly materializing under a dolly full of furniture or a packer carrying a huge box. Devon went everywhere with me, usually with me dragging him by the arm.
At the lowest point, we read children's books on the garage floor for about a half hour. We had nowhere to go and nothing else to do, and the movers had barely finished inventory and hadn't really even put anything on the truck yet.
Pointless errand time! We loaded up to drive the spare key to the rental office across town. In desperation, I opened the "car box" that Grammy had sent for the drive. The kids made the trip in the middle row shaking the bells on their antlers and singing "Jingle Bells".
Back home with Subway sandwiches for lunch, the house was still full of boxes and Craig had to drive out to meet the transport service and drop off our other car. We ate a picnic lunch on the sidewalk across the street and waved to our neighbors who drove by and rolled down their windows to commiserate.
The afternoon wasn't quite as hard as the morning, though it was still pretty long. We did have some cool things happen, though, dubbed The Four Coincidences of Moving Day:
1. Craig was putting some grocery bags into the center console of our car to use for trash bags. He felt something hard in one of them. Drawing it out, he saw that it was a shiny 2013 Maryland quarter.
2. Upon conversing with our mover, we discovered that we'll be neighbors. We live less than two miles apart in Elkton.
3. To amuse the kids, I took them to the mall to drop in on Savannah at Chick-fil-A. We entered at the Sears entrance and Devon immediately leapt into one of the displays to play in the fake cotton snow. Embarrassed, I hastened to get him under control.
"No worries," said a passing clerk, "I'd be doing the same thing if I was his age." I still made apologies, dragging him out as an elderly couple approached and exclaimed approvingly over him and the girls in their stroller.
"Sorry. This is a very unusual day for us. We're moving!" I said brightly.
"Where to?" asked the clerk.
"Maryland."
"I'm from Maryland," said both the clerk and the couple, almost in unison. We had a spontaneous little reunion there among the Craftsman tools. He was from the Elkton area, the couple from a little ways south. We talked about the fishing, the recreation, the climate. We left feeling excited about our new home.
4. On the way out of the mall, we stopped for one last ride on their favorite, the carousel. After putting in my dollar, I opened my quarter pocket to see if I had four for one more ride. I drew out four shiny Maryland quarters.
Meanwhile, back at home, the movers had inexplicably finished and were wondering why we hadn't been cleaning behind them so they could take our brooms and vacuum and get going. Grrr..
Somewhere in Maryland, our house deal closed at 4 p.m. We're officially homeowners again. Yay!!!
We were just finishing up at six instead of two or three as we hoped. The kids had spent so much time buckled into car seats, strollers, and wagons that I'm sure they felt like the car ride had already begun hours ago.
When the chores were finally done and we'd mopped our way out of the house, I was DONE. It had been a long three months and we were tired. I didn't feel nostalgic about leaving Florida. I didn't want to say nice prayers over our empty house, or drive around for one last look. I was ready to get out of Dodge, the sooner the better. This is my third cross-country move and I don't know why loading days are always like this, but they are. We look forward to a new life, but it always seems to rise from the ashes of the old one. Or, to mix Biblical metaphors with my pagan ones, I could smell the brimstone raining down behind me as we pulled out of Citrus Springs. If I'd looked back, I would have turned into a pillar of salt.
Thankfully, as soon as we were in the car the kids settled down for their "naps" and Craig and I were suddenly in a festive mood. We drank our coffees, ate our snacks, and enjoyed the sensation of sitting still after so many long days of running around. We also hadn't booked a reservation, so we didn't have any goal of how far we had to make it that one evening. We decided to stop at Valdosta at around 11:30 p.m.
Mommy: Hi, I'd like a room with a Jacuzzi tub, if they're still available.
Hotel Clerk: Yes, we have one King suite with a Jacuzzi tub. For how many?
Mommy: Two adults and three children.
Hotel Clerk: And you're all gonna sleep in that big bed?
The kids did really well on their first hotel stay in over a year. Yes, they were in the Jacuzzi tub making wet handprints on the mirror at 1:30 in the morning, but that was fine with me. They wore footie pajamas for the first time in a year, and nobody took them off and chucked them out of the pack-and-plays.
The second day of driving was a bit more tedious. Grammy's Car Box was packed with many fun things to do. The kids listened to a CD of Christmas music over and over, delighted when Daddy set it on repeat and they got to listen to Jingle Bells twenty-seven times.
Carrie spilled a bottle of water spiked with a bit of 7up on herself in the car, so she was wet from her shoulders to her knees when we pulled into Chick-fil-A for our late afternoon stop. I'm not sure how dinner and a run in the playplace took three hours, but it did.
Pulling into Mama and Papa's house in Springfield, TN really felt like crossing the finish line. I took a deep breath for the first time in six weeks, then got eight hours of sleep for the first time in at least as long. We're so thankful to have made it this far.
We were a bit apprehensive about moving around Christmas, but so far it is going so very well. The kids are living it up with Mama and Papa around, and we're so thankful to have a place to rest in the middle of our long journey.
My iPhone says we're 778 miles from Elkton, Maryland, and our new house that Devon has dubbed The House With Stairs. More on that later....
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