Giant Men
I suppose, after taking such a long and unannounced hiatus, that some stories about my time off are in order. I also think that moving day, being the central reason behind my disappearance, might make for good blog fodder. It also might not, but I’m telling you about it anyway.
We were tired. I’m not even sure how late it was that we went to sleep, but it was frickin’ late. Actually, it was probably early – as in early in the morning. So when we woke up to take our last showers in the old apartment, we were in kind of a haze. I almost tripped on several of the packed and labeled boxes as I stumbled through my disrupted morning routine.
I assembled yet another box for random house-junk. Strip of tape *shrrrrrrrrrrrrkk!*. Strip of tape *shrrrrrrrrrrrkkkk!*. Strip of tape *shrrrkstssss*. Uh oh.
“We’re out of tape.”
“They’ll have some with them.”
“Okay.”
I don’t know why it was so easy for me to just go with that. I mean, we were out of tape! You can’t wrap stuff up in boxes without tape. Perhaps it was the exhaustion. Maybe it was the fact that we had run out of paper for the third time the night before, causing me to wrap various kitchen things in Christmas wrapping paper. I was tired. I should have been cranky. But I wasn’t. I was practically sleep walking, but I was still severely excited.
Now, seriously. I have a problem with change. I hate it. I loathe it. I fear it more than just about anything else. But for some reason, if I can get over it, I get excited. And at this point, the whole situation was so overwhelming that it was easier to just go with it.
I did get a little anxious as the 7:30-8:00 window slid by. I started trying the office number. No answer. I was about to leave a message when I heard something. Something distinctively rumbly. Something definitely truck-like. Something positively… purple?
I skipped out the door into the beautiful sunshine and waved at the guys in the truck. That’s right, kids. We hired movers. There comes a time when you just have too much stuff to just pay your friends in beer. We lived in our old apartment for three years, accumulating junk and furniture. Mostly furniture. Okay… mostly junk. But still it was a lot of furniture, and a rather large tube TV.
While I did my little happy dance, the guys parked the truck. The crew chief introduced himself and the other two guys. This was when I realized that these guys weren’t kidding. We hired Gentle Giant. They apparently only hire actual giants. The shortest of these guys was at least 6’4″.
and it was time for the tour. Bedroom. Office. Out of tape and paper. Didn’t do the desk lamps yet. Yes, the bathroom’s been emptied. Yep, we got the attic too. Living room. No, we aren’t taking that ridiculous sound baffle. Kitchen. Leave the cabinets and the microwave. Oh, and there are pictures still hanging on all the walls that need to come too.
They scurried off, already carrying boxes, two at a time. One of the guys stayed back for just a little longer. “This is a really nice neighborhood. Why are you moving?”
I think I must have been in a sleep-induced euphoria, because the only answer I could come up with was, “The new place is nicer!”
And so the work began. I was amazed at how fast the boxes were cleared from the house. The crew chief brought in tape and paper, and I finished packing what little was left. The guys carefully lifted the boxes, often taking more than I could imagine carrying, and looked like this was just so easy. In the truck they went, and the guys were soon running (isn’t that neat?) back to get more.
I finally found myself with nothing to do. This is a difficult thing for me. I kind of like being useful, so sitting in the corner of the living room, out of the way, was really tough for me. I watched chairs and sofas and tables get wrapped up in magical quilts. I wondered why the quilts are all different colors and patterns, because wouldn’t you think they’d just buy them in bulk? Tape pealed off rolls in huge strips. And the elephant in the room (also known as our rather large television) remained stationary.
Eventually that television had to go. I said something about it being heavy, and one of the guys said, “Don’t worry. I brought my babies with me.” He then kissed each of his biceps in turn, as I laughed.
It seemed like all of a sudden I looked up and everything was gone. We walked through with the crew chief making sure nothing important got left behind. He complemented us on our preparedness. That made me feel good. He double-checked the address we were heading to, along with a quick discussion on directions.
“Wait. Is Route 1 open yet?”
“Yes, thankfully, they opened it back up yesterday.”
That’s right, folks, we moved on the first dry day in over a week. We were moving into the flood zone. Thank goodness our new complex is on a hill!
We discussed lunch stopping, and were on our separate ways. It was my job to stop and pick up food for Mike and I to eat. I got a pile of chicken nuggets and fries at the last stop on the Pike, knowing that most of the places on Route 1 may have still been closed. The smell of deep-fat frying permeated my car, but I kept my cool and waited until I arrived at the new place before eating.
We ate on the floor of the living room and patiently (Mike) and impatiently (me) waited the arrival of our giants. Soon, the familiar purple rumbling arrived. We gave them a new tour, and the guy concerned about us moving out of such a nice neighborhood told us we were right – this place is nicer.
Our stuff came in even faster than it went out. We ran into some furniture layout problems, but they were resolved quickly. And as suddenly as it began, it was over. Everything disappeared but the furniture and the boxes. Oh, so many boxes.
that is EXACTLY what tape sounds like.
We actually got one of those magical tape roller things, in order to enable us to tape faster. It was awesome.
Packing still did take approximately forever, though. Unpacking is actually approaching infinite time, too. Oh man… boxes…
wow…kinda reminds me of when I got here to Utah. Except I had them pile everything in the living room ’cause my buddy Nate and I were re-painting all the other rooms of the house first. Wild and crazy times indeed. Hope everything is unpacked and happy looking now.
… almost…