Our move was amazingly challenging, but I know that one day (actually now) we'll be able to laugh about it. We got the U-Haul stuck in the mud. Steinvic had an excellent idea (no, honey...it really WAS a good idea!) to back the truck up to the front of his apartment. It's a one level, ranch style apartment and there is a field right outside the front door. When we moved him in, we used the parking lot and that increased our work load substantially. So, parking right by the unit in the field really was the smart thing to do.
Except it had rained. And while this part of the grass wasn't soggy to feet, it was quickly soggy to a 17-foot truck...
We'd hardly loaded anything when Steinvic's son noticed slight sinkage beneath one tire. We tried gravel, kitty litter, flattened boxes, and a $30 doormat (I didn't dare mention that it was valuable as they tried to jam it beneath the back tire...just didn't seem like the time, and it also didn't matter...had it worked, it would have been worth it!) to try to create some traction, but no luck.
A friend's boyfriend baled us out. He has a 4-wheel drive truck and had planned to take some of our spare furniture off our hands anyway, so he came by to see if he could rescue us. The first attempt didn't work, but when I saw him pulling on the mudpants, I knew we'd be okay. I now call him "Our Savior" and we gave him permission to brag to his friends that his truck can literally haul a U-Haul.
Strange things occur to me at times of stress...Know how the U-Hauls have artwork on them? All day on Saturday, I thought that Michael Jackson was immortalized on ours:
Doesn't that look like him, getting a carriage ride? (note the mud on the tires...and that was after driving 100 + miles on the highway...) On closer look, it's a woman who is a little healthier than Michael, so I guess it's not him, but it still tickled me all day...
Anyway, while it took a whole day to pack/get unstuck, it took a whopping hour and fifteen minutes to unload the truck, thanks to my folks. They showed up at our place ready to rumble, and while my parents are turning 69 and 70 this year, you'd never know it. Even the big heavy stuff was in place (thanks to Steinvic and my Step Dad) by 1:45 p.m. and we started unpacking the necessities. So, complete dissaray, but I'll set about organizing this week.
Steinvic spends his last night in the apartment tonight. And then he can come home. (Okay, typing that made me have a huge lump in my throat...)
The other reason I was in Columbus last night was that Steinvic had surprised me with Vampire Weekend tickets a few months back, and the concert was last night. I learned that I am too old for Vampire Weekend.
I say this only because A) Visually, we were among the oldest people there. And B) The wrist band bearing dude actually approached US - no line for him - saying, "Are you folks drinking alcohol tonight?" and not carding us as he applied the wrist bands.
Yep, officially old. Steinvic bought me an awesome t-shirt and we settled in.
Consider that we were both worn out. We've been moving, not sleeping, stressing - though still getting along amazingly well - and we were definitely in need of fun. We didn't get there right at 7, though that is what the tickets said the starting time would be. We figured on an opening band, but they didn't even start until nearly 8.
The venue was filling up, but there was room to breathe and we could see the stage, so we were fine. We were chatting and having a beer and finally, Vampire Weekend comes on...at almost 9:30. We were REALLY ready to hear them, but realized we weren't going to be leaving there around 10, as we'd originally thought.
All of that was fine - they are a GREAT band - but then there was a girl right in front of me (and I mean RIGHT in my face) who didn't care that we were all shoulder-to-shoulder...she was going to thrash dance and fling her hair everywhere anyway. She stepped on my feet - hard - three times and her hair actually stuck to my lipgloss and that did it for me.
I leaned forward and said, "Hey...can I get like six inches of space back here?"
She turned around and said, "You're #$%&ing kidding me, right? No. #$%& you," and then proceeds to tell her big, stupid boyfriend who turns around and starts giving me crap.
(You may be wondering what Steinvic is doing during this exchange. Well, let me tell you. He was gently rubbing my back. He knew I was tired, he knew I was upset, and he knows I like to handle my own battles. He was right there with me, but letting me deal with it my way. )
I told the dumb boy that his friend was tromping on my feet and smacking everyone around with her hair and that this was okay, but there was nowhere for me to move and I'd waited for nearly two hours to see the show, too. Could she please chill or go somewhere else? He goes, "We paid for our tickets, too!" I'm like, what? I said, no...you're not hearing me and repeated myself.
Magically, it must have registered that I was making a valid, reasonable request. He scootched her forward, whispered something in her ear, she tied her hair up, and proceeded to dance around and everything was fine. GEEZ, though!
Three songs later, a small amount mysterious liquid fell from the balcony above. And that was when I turned to Steinvic and said, "I'm ready to go. Are you?" He actually looked relieved. We are so tired! And we left. So, we saw like a third of the concert. But, I still appreciate the tickets and I'm glad we went...I just know that next time, we need to wait until they are somewhere with seats, because the SRO style doesn't seem to work well with the youngins.
And THAT is my update, friends. Sorry I've posted so sporadically lately...lots going on! But you know what? It's all good. Life is about to get wonderfully, deliciously normal...
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