Saturday July 30, 2011 - The day broke. It broke hard. We needed to: 1.) get the truck 2.) pack the truck. Those were the only two things on the list, but they were very, very LARGE items. Actually, getting the truck would be easy. Penske wasn't far away, just down on Washington Ave. Jim, Dave and I went down first thing in the morning and saw a long line-up of shiny, new yellow trucks parked in the middle of the street. (For anyone who isn't familiar with South Philadelphia, if there is space in the middle of an avenue, or wide street, there will generally be cars or other vehicles parked there. It's not exactly a 'legal' spot, but that's the culture.) We gathered up our supplies, truck and coincidentally benefited from the AAA discount our brand new membership, obtained the day before, afforded us, which amounted to hundreds of dollars. Go AAA! Everything was going according to plan as Jim and I drove back to 9th Street, Dave leading the way in Rupert. We would soon be joined by our friends Matt & Dave who would, thank god, provide us with four more hands. The day was bright and sunny, traffic out front wasn't too bad, considering it was a Saturday at the end of the July. So we began loading the truck. How many boxes of books, cds, vinyl records, etc.? I think the total number was somewhere between 75-90, but that was only half of everything.
We'd done an admirable job of getting 90% of our belongings boxed and prepped for transport in the preceding week, but as anyone who has ever moved knows, it's the last 10% that is always the most troublesome. Working most of the day, in the heat and humidity we arrived at a sane stopping point somewhere around 3-4pm. Dave M. and Matt were probably about ready to strangle me, but they stuck it out and finished the job. (I've helped Dave M. move... I forget how many times, but this was the first time he was able to 'return the favor'. I'm sure he's glad he probably won't have to ever move me again.)
"All things considered" ... don't you hate it when writers use that phrase? In this case I'm not considering ALL things, as there had been too many things in the lead up that pissed me the hell off. It was a happy time on Saturday evening when we finally closed and locked the truck. It was even happier when we finally decided where to leave the damned thing for the night. It went right back to where we'd picked it up from that morning: the middle of Washington Avenue. Appearances would mark it as simply another Penske truck waiting for a customer to retrieve it in the morning. The only difference was the large lock on the door hasp. We crossed our fingers and hoped to god that no one would make off with it in the night. The original plan was to park it somewhere, with the back door backed into a wall. That didn't exactly pan out... I can't remember why. I also don't remember what we did that night, but I'm sure it was some kind of restaurant with alcohol involved.
Sunday morning I woke with nasty butterflies in my stomach. We needed to finish the packing and get on the road. For some reason I had it in my mind that we'd be pulling away by noon or 1pm. That proved to be completely unrealistic, especially since I hadn't done a reality check with either Dave or Jim on that goal. As I said above about the last 10% of a move... it proved to be a bitch. The remnants are always the most awkward things to pack or stow. Much to my displeasure I found that I needed to repack the tail of the truck to allow for more space. This took an extra couple of hours. My mood? It was less than buoyant. It was also QUITE hot that day, and the interior of the truck was even hotter. I finally had to call it quits and nearly passed out on the floor of the downstairs living room. There I laid for a good long time soaking up the air conditioning.
I'll give our friend Tim massive props for lending a hand that morning/afternoon. He showed up not expecting to work as hard as I drove him. We finally had 99% of our belongings packed, the remainder would go in Rupert. Cleaning the apartment was a 50-yard dash. For the most part things weren't too bad. Aside from minor cosmetic things here and there I'd say we left #1 in pretty good shape, considering the land lords hadn't done squat to its upkeep in the previous 15 years. I did feel a bit awkward about the amount of trash we were discarding at the side of the house. I'd always been annoyed when people had moved out and left a glacier of crap behind. Unfortunately we hadn't budgeted time or resources for 'disposal' so it would all have to wait for the trashmen to come two days later. At that point I just wanted to get on the road.
We finally pulled away between 3-4pm. Our destination that day was only 3 hours away: southern Delaware. This would be the first time Dave and I would spend more than an hour in the car with each other. Remember: "Driving together triggers common negative patterns within relationships and triggers all kinds of issues couples face around power/control, acknowledgement, values, capabilities, trust and our ability to rely on others." ( see - 'Do you have a difficult time driving with your spouse or partner?' ) We were both new drivers. And we were both the same people we'd been throughout our entire relationship. There were a few issues, but it was a good test of our road-tripping skills, and by the time we arrived at Bruce & Kate's that evening we were in desperate need of a few drinks. They obliged and then some... as they always do.
