When I turned 40 I did a Trivia game at my 40th birthday. The winner would get a 5 course meal made by yours truly. One of the questions I had on the quiz was how many times I had moved in my life time. The answer was 27. Yes, in 40 years I had moved 27 times. I counted the moves back from college each year, I counted the move across town to a new apartment, and all the times we moved states/countries as I grew up. I have to admit, I was a bit stunned at the number.
When I moved into the townhouse in Redmond, that was move #27. I figured I'd be there for a couple of years and I'd move on. That's what I do. That's what's in my blood. I swear somewhere in our family tree is a gypsy. I hadn't a clue in 2009 that I would stay there for almost 12 years (I count the year of 2009 because I moved in January). Go on...do the math..I do it with you...2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020. IF I made it to January 2021, that would be 12 years...so I'm rounding up.
Now as I sit on my davenport (do people call it that now? My grandmother always called her couch the "davenport" and for some reason that word sticks in my noggin). Ahem... anyhow, as I sit her looking around the chaos that only a move after 12 years can bring, I realized this was move #28.
As for the actual move...what a nightmare. Naturally, the well laid plan I had made (and the plan B I had made) didn't really come to fruition the way I had planned. Which I knew would happen. I couldn't stop thinking all day on Wednesday why I ever enjoyed moving. Yuck.
My move window with the movers was from 8am-10am. I selected the morning time on purpose. I wanted to get it done then have the afternoon to start unpacking. I only took Wednesday off, so I had to work on Thursday. I got a call on Tuesday from the Movers confirming my window and did I have any last minute questions for me. Nope, I said, all is good. They said the "team" would call when they left dispatch.
On Wednesday at 8:05 I got a call from dispatch with a story to end all stories. The first issue is they would not be making it to my house until noon! NOON! The "team" didn't finish the job the night before and had one last run for the previous customers. All I could think of is, "this is my problem how?" I mean, I resource people all day every day. You have back ups. You have a second plan. Ugh.
Then about 10 the dispatcher called again. "You see", he said, "the last customer is a couple who's getting divorced and when the truck got there the two couldn't decide who was getting what, so they send the team away." And lucky me they were on their way to me, AFTER they came back to the office. So my new ETA was 12-12:30.
I had reserved 3 guys and I got 2, so the move was going to take longer than anticipated. They estimated 6 hours. It took 4 hours to unload the old townhouse! I knew it would take the same amount of time to unload at the new place.
One of the movers wasn't in the greatest of shape and was struggling with the stairs. It slowed them down a bit. At the end of the whole day, I was charged for 9 hours - apparently you have to pay for breaks and travel time. A very expensive day!
Since then I've been unpacking slowly. I've managed to throw my back out and so it's taking a bit longer. That and I needed to have my new pantry put together and other new furniture to arrive. I have a book shelf and and a bar that are still pending delivery. Once those are here and put together, I can finish up the unpacking.
The demons are settling in well. There are some new noises that freak them out. Linus appears to be freaked out if ANYONE rings the doorbell and then comes in. He's very unsure about people it seems. Meanwhile, Lucy is in the middle of the fray and wants more attention than normal.
This will be a good home for me. I'm looking forward to the memories that will be made here.
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