Our First Big Move

Since Keahi was 2 we've moved.....7 times. But this was the biggest move. The only one in which we took any furniture. I remember when we moved to Brooklyn we were so distraught in the taxi on the way to the Richards' place. I seriously almost broke down in tears. The city looked huge and ugly and most of all unfamiliar. In retrospect I think the two biggest factors were the quick week to prepare for the move and the temporary nature of our living situation both those first few days when we bounced around from the Richards to the Palmers till our place was available and the 2 month lease deadline looming over me, shouting at me that I had to find some place else quickly. In any event, with this move to Michigan we felt much more at ease and prepared (as much as possible) for this new stage in our lives.

Speaking of prepared, I'd thought I'd planned out rather well the game plan for the big move, scheduling the moving truck pick-up just before street sweeping so we'd be assured a long parking spot in front of the apartment. Of course, my planning didn't take into account Budget's inferior scheduling skills. It took 2 hours to get the truck and 45 minutes of waiting around for them to tell us one was being picked up in Queens for us and it would take 45minutes longer. We were missing street sweeping times and cutting into our moving time and having to get creative with the kids and parking (thank you soooo much Nicole) because Budget just stinks. I think we'll go back to Penske in the future. Anyhow, that ended up being the biggest snag in the move. When we brought the truck to the apartment we discovered that Ben Tano, Julie's dad, and ______ had already moved most of our stuff onto the sidewalk for us. Fantastic men. The usual moving aches and pains and loss of sleep ensued but I thought it went pretty smoothly.

Of course, with the loss of sleep we didn't head out at 6:30am as planned. But we made it out by 8:30am and made great time. Both Iz and I only stopped twice to fill up gas and I'm amazed I didn't have to make any additional stops for food or the potty. I kept asking Keahi if he needed to go but he said he wanted to keep going and not get out of the van. So, we stopped for a total of 45minutes the entire 11 hour journey. The boys were pretty good about it, too. And we got to the house ahead of Iz. I have to call our first long road trip a success. Especially since I never even came close to falling asleep which was my biggest fear. I guess going 85mph was engaging enough to keep me awake. The van done good.

And we were amazed at the turnout when we got here. Cameron Grange was here with the help of 3 elders and the YM president. They made quick work of our stuff. And later the bishop, yw president and some of the youth came to welcome us to the area. They even picked up some pizza for us and Cameron took me shopping at Trader Joe's. Seriously, people are awesome. I love the midwest.

I wish I'd taken pictures of us cleaning out our old apartment or moving into our new one. I wish I had a video of the kids' first look at their new playroom. I really, really wish I had a picture of the ghetto-est Budget Rental office in Dearborn where we dropped off our truck. Maybe I'll have to go back just to show you what both Iz and I passed by the first time around--me because I thought it looked like an abandoned outhouse--and only stopped because of the lone truck parked there.

I miss Brooklyn, the ward, and all the awesome people we got to know there. For the first week or so Jarom kept suddenly breaking down and crying to go back to his "trapezoid house." But we're settling in and we do love it here. I'm grateful (most of the time--when not actively moving) we've been able to live in so many different places. So many different kinds of beautiful.