The first week of our latest grand adventure has now passed. It was not what I expected. It wasn't smooth or easy, rather it was a true test of our relationship.
We started last Friday with my last day at Seacoast. I worked for Big Lake and its successor Seacoast for 14 years and three months. And although it was very stressful and taxing on my health and spirit, I was still sad to leave. I was very surprised that they had a luncheon and after work party for me. So many people came to say goodbye and show their support for the changes I decided to make in my life.
The next day we did not jump out of bed to pack; we did not act on the urgency at hand- we (I) had too much stuff and one-third of it remained to be boxed and sorted through. Instead, we ran last minute errands. We moseyed through the day, then around 4 decided to get busy. At 11:30, I was exhausted and spent, and had made so little progress.
On Sunday, I got up early, ready to face the day. Roger went to get the truck, and the teenager who mows our yard (and his big brother) were scheduled to arrive to help us do the heavy lifting. That's when we hit our first snag.....our 26' U-Haul wasn't there. Hello panic-mode. The U-Haul company did some scrambling, and a couple hours later, we were back on track.
Initially, I was concerned that our "stuff" wouldn't fit in the truck. After the first hour when part of the furniture was in, I started to feel optimistic. Then, hour two, and I realized I was right. We didn't have enough space in the truck. We sent Dennis and his brother home, and were forced to face reality. Roger, frustrated and tired, explained that had to start making decisions about what I truly wanted to take and what must be left behind. I felt like a defeated hoarder- paralysed to think that I must make quick decisions about which boxes I would keep or discard. The problem wasn't parting with material items, the problem is my boxes were poorly packed, and I had no idea what was in each one. The first box I opened had some empty figurine boxes, some photos and some gold jewelry. Just a reaffirmation that if I just dumped boxes, I would have no idea what I was loosing. Sigh, I decided to sleep on it.
Monday morning, I was able to convince Roger to take what we had to Melrose, then rent a second storage unit and a pull behind U-Haul trailer and come back for the rest. This would give me the opportunity to go through everything properly. After we finished packing our vehicles and what would fit in the big truck, we loaded the RX7 and my car on vehicle dollies and took off around 3:00p.m.. We arrived in Melrose around 11:30p.m. Snag number 2: the U-Haul and car dolly wouldn't fit in my grandparents' driveway. So, in the middle of the night, we had to unload the RX7, drop the dolly, rig it with flashlights so cars could see it and not run into it, then we pulled the big truck in. Poor Papa, we were going to have to confess that we ran over the sprinklers making the turn around the circular drive. Then, we took the Volvo off the Nitro trailer, dropped it off, and used the Nitro to get the big car dolly out of the road; and then brought the RX7 back in. Geesh!
Tuesday, we slept until 10:00. It had been almost a year since I slept that late. We returned our car dollies, rented our 2nd U-Haul, rented our two storage units, which equalled 10x30 in space, then headed back to Port St Lucie. We arrived at 6:00 p.m., and once again started loading. And, once again, Roger pointed out that I was running out of space. Aaaagggghhhh! So, I kicked him out to start cleaning and I started putting together my giant puzzle of boxes. In the end, 3 hours later, my casualties included a bar stool, a nightstand, a potted palm and a shop vac. This I could live with and donated them to my FFF, whom I dragged out of bed. From there, at 9:30 p.m., back to Melrose, where we arrived at 3:00 a.m. Crash.
Wednesday morning, we met the men who were to help us unload the truck and trailer. My mother's friend referred two twin firemen to be our helpers. (At the end of the day, it turned out that neither were the men referred to us- we still don't know who they were... weird.) It felt like it was 900 degrees, but was really 95. After three hours, we were exhausted and smelled like old sweaty gym clothes that sat in an airless duffel bag for a few weeks. The rest of the day was a blur, and we crashed from fatigue again.
We began Thursday with optimism. We were determined to find a house and employment. We found neither and were beginning to get very discouraged. I decided it might be easier to make Jacksonville our hub during our search and stay in a hotel instead of driving back and forth. Because I'm more thrifty than Roger, I convinced him to stay in a cheap Days Inn at Neptune Beach. It was really a damp dump with roaches. We tried not to think about it too much.
For two days we looked at several houses, applied for numerous jobs, and found a few great restaurants. End the end, we are still jobless (with a couple potential interviews), but we found a great place to live at the Metropolitan Lofts on Church St in the heart of downtown Jax http://jaxlofts.com/.
Back to my grandparents.
So now, we'll spend the next two days relaxing and Internet surfing and then Roger will go to Peru for a few weeks. I'm super bummed because I'll miss his birthday and we'll spend our first anniversary apart, but we'll have the rest of our lives to hang out together.
Hopefully when he returns, we'll finally get married in time for phase two of our Grand Adventure which will begin in our new home/loft apartment. (I'm secretly crossing my fingers for a little English bulldog puppy, too! We can call him Brutus.)
I'm praying I'll be selected for a Financial Advisor Trainee at Wells Fargo. I'd get to go to school for 7 months to take the test to get a Series 7 licence. And I'm crossing my toes that Roger will get the Warehouse Manager position he's hoping for.
Thank you Baby Jesus for all our blessings so far. (By the way, we think we'll become Episcopalians now.)
That's it for now. Stay tuned!
True History
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