“It’s not all going to fit.” Those are the words that ring through my mind most when I think about last Thursday. We rented at 26’ Penske truck, and apparently we had way more stuff then we thought!
Around 3 on the 12th, I picked Lilly up from school. She had a whole lot of stuff from her party and her teacher handed me her bag with transcripts and textbooks. Her classmates decided that they wanted to trade textbooks with her so they would all have one of Lilly’s and be able to remember her. They would also help her remember them. What a cute idea. Her teacher couldn’t figure out what to get her, and knew we wouldn’t want to have much room taken up, so she bought (and washed!) a school sweatshirt for her. We hadn’t bought one yet as I really didn’t want to spend the $$ when we were going to be leaving anyway. (to this day, she is still inseparable from it – pulling it out of the dirty clothes if she has to!)
Then, my dad, Katy, and I picked up the truck. Life got insanely crazy from that point on. We had a lot of help. We had several different engineers there helping us – one very optimistic (packing the truck), and one who can tend more toward the pessimistic side (who told us we needed to start cutting things out so we would have room). It was tough. When I had heard the “It’s not all going to fit” the second time, I called Phil (who was working a 15 hour day) and asked him what he wanted to cut. The problem was that almost everything he wanted me to cut was already on the truck and packed so we couldn’t pull it. By about 7:30, I called him and told him to get home NOW! I was past a breakdown emotionally, and not able to deal with anymore. When he finally did get home, we still had a garage full of stuff. We had emptied what was left into the garage. We had 3 vehicles (mine, mom’s, and then Phil’s) full of stuff (which was not engineered when it was packed in because we were just trying to get it in). At the end, before Phil got home, my dad had come upstairs to help get the showerhead off, and found me laying on the floor of our bedroom just bawling my head off. My nerves were raw and I was tired of trying to be strong for everyone else. I just couldn’t handle it anymore.
That night, we drove away from the house still not quite sure what we were going to do, but knowing it probably meant getting a trailer in the morning. The girls had gone home around 7 with my mom (to her house) so they could get baths and go to bed. That was tough when it was time for them to leave as we had to go upstairs and say “goodbye” to their rooms and house. This was actually when I started losing my “umph” to be strong. Lilly and I sat in Katy’s room, and then in her room just crying and not wanting to go.
Friday morning, Phil was up at 6. As soon as we could get outside, he and dad started unloading the 3 vehicles so that we could repack them so things (and people) would fit better. Once that was done, rental places were open, so we were able to rent a U-haul trailer. Dad and I met Phil at our house. We also called another friend to help us get the trailer loaded. My mom stayed home with the girls so we could work quickly. We had planned to leave town around 7:30 Friday morning, but because of the trailer didn’t get out until 10:30. We went as a 4 vehicle caravan. The truck pulled the trailer and someone always stayed behind or right in front of the truck so if dad had any problems we were nearby. For most of the morning, we stayed pretty close together. The girls were taking turns riding in the truck with grandpa, and then could go between my car, mom’s car, and the van. By 4 pm, Phil made the decision that mom and I were to leave the kids with the guys, and go on ahead. It took us awhile to get ahead, but we did. I was really concerned about the guys having the 2 girls because of bathroom stops, etc. I had to explain to the girls (after explaining to the guys) that they were going to go in the men’s bathrooms with daddy and grandpa because it wasn’t safe to go alone into the girl’s bathrooms. We also decided out of respect for the girls and the other men in the bathroom, they would have their eyes covered! I was worried about whether they might get questions – 2 men with a moving truck and 2 little girls. I cautioned my dad. He had quite the look on his face when I mentioned that!
After a VERY, VERY long day of driving, we arrived in our new town, and pulled up to our new house around 10:15 Friday night. The other guys were about 45 minutes behind. Mom and I got in and started by unloading our 2 vehicles and getting them out of the way so the truck could get into the driveway when they got here. Then, we started cleaning. We had planned to stay here overnight instead of going elsewhere due to the time, desire to clean a bit, the time we needed to be here in the morning, and the cat. I was concerned about leaving her alone in a new place and what she might do.
When the guys got here, my brother-in-laws had just pulled up too, but I took both girls (Katy had been sound asleep, so it scared her when I woke her up.) running into the house to show them their new home! We had fun with that, then we started right in getting the trailer off so we could get the truck open and get our beds out so we could go to bed. We were almost done unloading what we needed, when we realized we didn’t have any suitcases (and didn’t want to run around w/o clothes the next day). We had to open the trailer to get those out.
We slept, and then got up bright and early on a chilly morning to get the truck unloaded. We were so thankful for my dad and for Phil’s brother Andrew because without them, we would have been up a creek. We had 2 people from the local MOPS group show up to help for a little while, and my best friend Katy was here with her 4 year old daughter. The girls had a blast playing once my girls woke up.
By the end of the day, the truck and trailer had been unloaded and returned, the kitchen cabinets lined, and things were starting to shape up.
It was such a help having help.
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