Today Maribeth was able to take possession of her new (to her) house. It also meant that it was time to move all her stuff out of my house to her house. I will also say that it is the last move of the Davidson Moving Company.First of all, we rented a U-Haul van. Why a van and not a truck? Because it is easier to load a van (lower to the ground) and the van is 59 cents a mile instead of the 99 cents a mile that the truck costs. I am cheap, not to mention old and weak. So, armed with the van, we returned to my house and began loading. Several loads later, Maribeth had a substantial number of pieces of furniture. Then came the good part.
See, Maribeth has been furnishing her new home from the House of Craigslist. Sure, it fits right in with Earth Day, you know recycling other people's crap and all. However, it has also taken us (that's right - US) into several sketchy areas of town, almost always at night. I am usually the driver, and Maribeth is the navigator.
Well, after one of our furniture loads, Maribeth asks if we can keep the van for longer than the 6pm deadline. I can sense that this is not going to have a good outcome, and I ask why. As it turns out, she needs to go pick up a sofa, armoire, and TV from one of her Craigslist connections. I agree to accompany her - oh, but since the TV will need it's own personal chauffeur, apparently I am going to take the van, and she will drive her car. Oh, and it's in Kingston Springs, 30 minutes away.
So, I call UHaul and tell them I will be returning the van at 9pm instead of 6. I'm thinking we'll just pop the furniture in the van, the TV in Maribeth's Jeep, and be done. I thought wrong.
First of all, I had never been to Kingston Springs. It is quite a lovely place, but it sure is up in them thar hills. I drove twisty and turny and up and up to get to the house in question. By the way, I will never ask why Nashville Metro schools are out for a snow day when it is clear in my neighborhood. I was spooked about the hillly twistys in the dry spring - I cannot imagine it in the wintery ice.
Anyhoo, we eventually get to the seller's home. He has a lovely home on a hill. He also has a gravel driveway that will lead me off a cliff, if my brakes don't work. I park and hope for the best and get out to meet Dude (who came out from the house to help me park in the gravel driveway).
Maribeth arrives and we go in to look at the furniture. Apparently Dude is getting divorced and selling off his/her/their furniture. The couch is a leather COUCH, not love seat. It is heavy because it was made with heavy wood. But it is not as heavy as the armoire, which was made with really heavy wood. Oh, and it has about ninety-eleven drawers in it. But then we see the TV, which is a 60-inch TV. Apparently Maribeth knew all this, but in my moving haze, I did not realize the dimensions. Anyhoo, Dude has custody of his kids, Jr Dude and Cutie Pie, for the weekend. He also has a bunch of other furniture that they show us, but Maribeth decides to stick with the heavy sofa, heavier armoire, and humongous TV. And I have a UHaul cargo van.
Dude (who is, by the way, wearing cargo jorts - which I can talk about because I was equally fashionably dressed in my shorts that I usually sleep in, a t-shirt that had remnants of my McD's lunch that I spilled on it, and red/green Santa socks), decided that we delicate flowers will be unable to load the two-tons of furniture onto the van/Jeep, so he calls his friend down the road (or up the hill) to come help.
To make a long story short, through a series of maneuvers, including but not limited to: spinning tires in the gravel, measuring, taking out the ninety-eleven drawers, heaving and lifting, pushing and shoving, and a lot of sweating, the armoire was put in the van, the couch flipped on top of the armoire, and the TV wedged in there somewhere. We eventually made it back to Maribeth's home and unloaded the stuff - all by our little selves.
Now that each child has a home of their own, I am retiring from the moving business. So if you have a new house that you're moving to, congratulations and good luck. Just don't call me until you're all moved in!
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Today's blessings: moving furniture with Maribeth and Molly; nice dudes in Kingston Springs
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