Fixable? Of course (or not)

Saturday morning moving day - June 26, 2010 - started without a hitch - until sister Kathy and I went to pick up the Penske truck. The cab cleanliness was not up to Woods girls standards – but was fixable - with exam gloves on.

We opened the back of the truck and found 7 blue moving dollies lying there – removing them - also fixable.

We drove away to the scary sound of metal-on-metal – which turned out to be not fixable. After driving the truck for a bit we decided it needed to go back to the rental place.

Of course - they had no more trucks and the closest place to pick one up was in Burnsville – about 25 miles away. Of course - it was a weekend and they had no one to drive it to us - so we had to drive there to make the trade.

At first glance the 2nd truck looked okay. Of course – the condition of the cab was worse than the other one – which was annoying - but fixable. The good news is that it didn’t make any weird noises and actually drove quite nicely.

By now we were about 2 hours behind schedule. Nate and his good friend Nate – had already moved all my stuff from the second floor of the storage unit to the main floor to be put in the truck. We were able to drive the truck right into the building. Let me clarify – not hitting the building – but actually pulling the truck inside the building. Big difference!

By this time - Annie and Eric had also arrived to help with the packing. Getting everything into the truck was like playing Tetris.

It might have been a fun challenge if it wasn’t so stressful – as everything I own in my life was going into that 11’ x 16’ x 8’ box. I’ve discovered that I don’t require as much as I once thought – but I wanted to protect the few special things that I still needed to call mine.


With the distance ahead – and the terrain – we bungeed, roped, and ratcheted as much as we could. Eric said he’d never seen a truck packed so well. Thanks Eric!

It took about 2 hours to finish. We had tried to start early but circumstances with delays didn’t allow finishing early. Thanks to both Nates for hanging in there when I know they really wanted to go watch the USA’s FIFA soccer match.

I did have one meltdown – that had been building for lots of reasons. It was short-lived but necessary I think. Sorry everyone.

Later that night at the Paul’s - we had a wonderful dinner of grilled salmon, asparagus, fruit salad, pasta salad, etc etc etc. It was a wonderful feast topped off by laughter and kudos to all for getting through the day.

I love you all!