Today was an awesome day, even if it didn’t start out that way. I had to prepare to drive my daughter Michal back up to school today. Yesterday we spent a chunk of the early evening packing boxes and bags and skateboards and bulletin boards and various items into the back of her ’99 Honda CRV. I am still amazed at how much I was able to squeeze in the back of that vehicle. This morning at 7:45 a.m. my friend Erin deposited her 1992 Toyota pickup at our house. I was responsible for loading it up with lumber for a full-size loft bed, a dresser, a bookshelf, mattress, coffee table, chairs and other assorted items. Erin would return and would drive the truck while I drove Michal’s car. It was a good plan. Mostly.
I woke a little stressed and cranky. After Erin left the truck, I took my SUV up to our storage unit and got some remaining pieces of Michal’s furniture we hadn’t gotten the day before. When I got back home, I had my coffee and set about the task not of packing but of finishing up the job application I had started the day before. I spent another 90 minutes or so slashing whole chunks out of my resume and tightening up my cover letter before emailing the application. I can’t say that I felt really good about the package–although I have previous experience doing pretty much exactly the kind of work with the same target audience and similar objectives, I have no good feel for whether or not I’ll get any farther than I did with some other applications. Nevertheless, I wrapped that up and went on to the main event for the day–preparing for the move.
The main challenge involved having to put lots of stuff into the rather unexpectedly small bed of the pickup. I had several items loaded before I decided that there was a better way to pack the furniture so that it wouldn’t block Erin’s rear view so I took stuff out and started again. I loaded and unloaded the 40 pieces of unassembled loft bed lumber, a bookshelf and a chest of drawers, a table, etc. about three times before I finally got it the way I wanted. When all was said and done I was once again very self-congratulatory about my prowess as a packer.
What was interesting to me was that, as the day progressed and I worked steadily on getting Michal ready to move, my mood got better and better. This is totally opposite from what I expected. I thought I’d be increasingly irritated by having to figure out how to load the car and the truck, stressed that our leaving time would put us right in the thick of rush hour traffic, and worn out from all the loading that I wouldn’t feel like unloading. Instead, by the time we got on the highway with our little two-vehicle caravan, I was feeling pretty good. Michal put on assorted music from her “classic rock” collection and we went be-bopping down the highway. Even rush hour wasn’t that big of a deal. When we arrived up at school an hour away we set right in to unloading. After a few trips back and forth from the car and truck, one of the neighbors in the apartment complex introduced herself to Michal and asked if we needed help. We ended up with two extra sets of hands helping us unload. It was awesome!
Today for me was about being grateful for simple things. Nothing major or earth-shattering happened today. It was a day of physical and mental labor, of packing and unpacking and repacking and driving and unloading. It was a beautiful, sunny Bay area day. Tonight after dropping Michal off I regained control of the TV remote, ate dinner alone, and will once again have my bed to myself. Back to business as usual I reckon. It sure was nice to have her here, even if only for a few days. Today was a good day, and though perhaps I don’t have some keen insights or thought-provoking wisdom to share in tonight’s blog, I’m grateful to have had it.
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