2014-0421 Moving

Hi All –

Last Monday ( only a week ago at the time of this writing but by the time you are reading this, who knows HOW long it’s been) my wife Kathleen and I drove up north to the Sacramento area to help our kids, Dave and Kelly, prepare for moving.  The date of the move was going to be the next Saturday so there was much preparation to do. 

Dave and Kelly have a 2-year old daughter, Katelyn, who is undergoing treatment for a serious medical condition known as  Aplastic Anemia, which means that her bone marrow is not producing enough of the cells needed to maintain a viable immune system.  Therefore, she needs to be isolated from most everyone.  One of our main jobs, then, was to be with Katelyn so her parents could prepare for this move. 

As you probably have done yourself, one of the jobs in packing is to protect fragile collectibles such as you might display on an étagère.  This can be a time consuming job as each piece brings back fond memories of the event or manner in which you acquired it.  Perhaps it was a housewarming gift or a present from a well-wisher when you first announced that you were expecting.  Maybe it was a objet d’art which you discovered in a cozy gift shop while on vacation and it reminded you of a treasured childhood experience. 

Some people collect teacups and display those, other might collect Dresden plates, or spoons, or thimbles.  Dolls are popular as well.  Whatever floats your boat.  You’ll notice that most of the things - - - okay, ALL of the things I mentioned - - are probably collected by women.  Men collect stuff like back issues of Sports Illustrated”, “Motor Sports”, “Field and Stream” or beer steins.  These are not usually displayed in fancy display cases.  The magazines pile up in a corner until the exasperated housewife relocates them to the trash can and the beer steins are in a box somewhere in the garage behind a precarious pile of other unmarked boxes rivaling the Great Pyramid of Giza. 

George Carlin quips that “A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on  it.”  Well, there was a lot of stuff – that’s for sure.

But I digress.  Our kids had some collectibles and we wrapped those in bubble wrap and placed them carefully into boxes.  We also wrapped their framed pictures and other wall hangings.  

On the Friday before the move, we packed up the kitchen – all the plates, glasses, silverware, etc. and began using paper plates and plastic ware.  The beds were dismantled and brought downstairs to be staged in the garage along with bookcases with their concomitant boxes of books, chairs and other furniture.

On Saturday, the kids rented this huge U-Haul truck and parked it in front of their house.  And their neighbor’s house.  And THEIR neighbor’s house.  I told you it was long!  Anyway, a lot of young, strong and helpful people showed up and quickly moved everything into the truck, then reconvened at the new house (located only a few miles from the old location) and moved everything out of the truck.  Kelly had color-coded all the boxes with colored tape so boxes could easily be sorted as to where they should go.

In short order, the kitchen was put together again, the bed reassembled, the tables put in place and the bookcases were installed, after which the people dissipated to go about their own affairs.  What a great experience!

Have a great week!

Kevin

Reminder:  If you are unsure about the meaning of the idioms used in this message, please refer to "Idioms, Figures of Speech, and Proverbs" posted on this blog in August 2013.  An alternative is to look at http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com