This weekend marked yet another milestone...it was move in weekend at Virginia Tech when my girls move into their first apartment. I know what you are doing...you are oooo'ing and saying "awwwww, how cute...." or something to that effect. Shut it...moving requires well....moving furniture.
Growing up in New York, one of my favorite TV shows was All in the Family. As a young boy, I'm sure I didn't understand all of nuances and themes of the show, but I enjoyed it because it made my dad laugh. He was most tickled when Archie Bunker, a male chauvinist, racist, grumpy old man, ordered Edith, his wife, to "stifle". To save you a trip to dicitonary.com, stifle means to stop breathing or suffocate. Sick, I know, but it was simply hilarious in the moment. You had to be there.
So why am I thinking of All in the Family? Well, the tune I could not shake from my mind this weekend was the theme song from The Jeffersons called "Movin' on Up". The Jeffersons were Archie Bunker's neighbors and they moved out of the neighborhood and a spin off show was created called, oddly enough, The Jeffersons. They say when you share and think of others, you grow. Well let me share the tune with you in the hopes that I will be rid of it and grow into another tune:
The tune helped ease the panicky feeling while canvassing the scene in our living room with all the stuff that had to be moved. I was certain I was going to be proven wrong after declaring a 10' U-Haul truck would be enough for all the stuff. There was a lot. My pack rat living style was definitely inherited. I began to object about a few of the items and I thankfully was smart enough to not actually verbalize any of it. Why pick on the little stuff when the sleeper couch was mocking me from the attic?
This sleeper couch is a relic from younger days. There it sat, big and bad, taunting me. I have fond memories of destroying the drywall moving this monstrosity to the attic. It seemed like a good idea to put it on the top floor at the time. David, my best friend, who was noticeable absent this weekend, swore he would not be around when it came time to move again. He is a man of his word.
I shared his sentiments. I had sworn that the couch would convey with the house. Never in my nightmares did I envision actually having to move it back down.
Enter Rob. It is good to have big friends that are well over six feet tall. I unknowingly picked smarter than I thought. Rob used to be a professional mover in his younger days and that expertise came in real handy. If I could have just convinced David to help, he and Rob would have done such a great job while I supervised. Hey, I'm meant for management, ok?
Well the big oaf, the couch not Rob, was tackled. It wasn't easy nor pretty. Not satisfied with doing it once, we actually did it 1.25 times. After finally getting it through the narrow attic doorway (with door removed), we got to the first landing and realized it was turned the wrong way. There is no way to manipulate it around to the next landing with the back of the couch facing the way we had to turn. You should have seen the look on Rob's face when I said "Oh yea, I remember now, we had it the other way when we brought it up." Good thing the couch was between us and Rob is not quick to anger.
Up the oaf went through the narrow opening, we turned it vertical, rotated it, and brought it back down through the opening. After that it was smooth sailing...sort of.
A bit of drywall repair and the house will be fine.
Rob expertly loaded the back of the U-Haul with sofa, two dressers, a book shelf, and a few boxes before I relieved him of duty. As proof of his experience and expertise, he even had his son drop off padded moving blankets to protect the furniture from scratches. Honestly, I wasn't worried about that thinking the distressed look for furniture was in these days.
In victory, we were exhausted. The girls were home by then and my victory speech to them included this line: "Either your boy friend, fiancé, or husband was going to move you out in two years". That is the last time I deal with that couch. Their reply was a simple smile and an "oh, daddy". I knew then I was going to be moving it out. Their friend Katie, later in the day added "Well, its been twenty years and nothing has happened yet" to the boy friend, fiancé, husband comment.
The fun part was the actual drive down. It was time to be one with the fellow brotherhood of truckers. I-81 is full of commercial trucking traffic and I was excited to be part of the club instead of the typical "four wheeler". Then I realized the 10' U-Haul only had four wheels. It didn't even have double-wide tires in the back! Umpf. I threatened to get chewing tobacco so I can feel like a trucker. After all, I was only missing a CB Radio (yes, and a few wheels). There was no joy there as well with one look from Ella about the tobacco. Nevertheless, on the road, I felt like a freshmen amongst a sea of senior truckers as I intentionally bounced in my seat. That was short lived as my butt started to hurt.
Thanks to Rob's expertise, everything arrived unscratched or damaged. Also, ground floor apartments are a God send when moving in! Everything is all setup in the comfy, newly renovated (not!) home away from home.
I wish I hadn't found that YouTube link to Movin' On Up...now it is playing in my head again.
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