Low Clearance
Have you ever had one of those mornings where you head out the door, sit in the car and then remember you forgot something? So you run back into the house only to not be able to find whatever it is you forgot? So you run around the house like a crazy person looking for whatever it is, finally find it and then head back out again.
And then repeat that exercise about three of four times?
Yeah…that’s what my morning looked like. At least the first 20 or so minutes of it.
Here’s a little insight into my brain. As I was running in and out of the house, starting the car and then turning off the car, I was fighting two conflicting reactions.
1) Thankful that I’m remembering all of this stuff while I’m still in the driveway and can actually do something about it.
2) Insanely annoyed and ready to jump down the throat of anyone who gives me any grief about my morning lack of mental agility.
Which Heidi is going to prevail on this, arguably one of the more stressful days in anyone’s life…moving day.
So far, this is what moving looks like:
Thursday Night
1) Destroy roof rack on low-clearance parking garage. (not the plan, but certainly impacting the move).
Friday Day
2) Forget everything from belt to phone to coupon for local Jeep dealer service department. Run in and out of house looking for all of the above….of course, not at the same time.
3) Take Adventure Jeep into shop for oil change and learn it’s long overdue now for all kinds of service that normal people wouldn’t have to worry about for another couple years. But normal people don’t put on 10,000 miles a summer.
4) Kindly tell service mechanic that, no, we will not be doing any of those things today. Thank you for painting a picture of what being broke is going to look like, however.
5) Check PO Box for mail and forward all future mail to new Littleton address.
6) Get rid of the cop car. You all had your chance to buy it. That chance is now officially over.
7) Pack up our stuff, make “road trip sandwiches” and clean up after ourselves (thank you Casa Anderson for housing the Happonens this past week).
Pick up the u-haul trailer and hope a 6×12 space is enough to fit all of our material possessions. Especially now that the Xcargo is broken.
9) Drop off kids with Paula so we can load the trailer without the interns. They are enthusiastic, but unskilled in the area of furniture moving.
10) Whatever doesn’t fit, take across the street to the Good Will.
11) Retrieve interns, thank Paula…who is ridiculously helpful and kind. Everyone needs a Paula in their lives. Everyone.
12) Head due south…and then east.
13) Find a “safe-ish” rest stop in Idaho to crash for a few hours.
Saturday
14) Roll into Salt Lake City….thank you Nelsons.
15) Allow Julius to play Wii until all hours of the night so he sleeps all day Sunday.
Sunday
16) Early to rise, early to drive….allow for at least 9 hours to get from SLC to Denver.
17) Unload the trailer.
Monday
18) Julius off to school with the week of school and homework in his backpack. The work that he basically did on the drive to Seattle.
19) Try not to kill spouse while putting together furniture with evil allen wrenches.
20) Return trailer to Littleton u-haul station.
I write this detailed list for several reasons. One, maybe if I make my list a public domain, I won’t forget the pieces of it so easily today. Two, to prepare myself for a day where I know most of this won’t happen but at least by writing it I give myself permission to laugh about all the “off-plan” detours sure to take the lead. And finally, if I feel the world is watching, maybe “good Heidi” who is filled with gratitude and silver linings will take the lead, putting “annoyed Heidi” securely in her place and out of the way.
I’ll take the poll of my “staff” (husband and kids) today and tomorrow to see who prevails. And at that time will revisit the list to see just how much actually goes according to plan.
