i moved in with J on june 14, 2009. we planned everything in advance; arranged movers, rented a UHaul, took time off from work, scheduled new furniture to be delivered... in the end, it turns out, NONE OF THAT MATTERED. ladies and gents, i present to you: the worst moving experience EVER.
friday, 7am: wake up to what the news is dubbing "the biggest weather event day of the year". we're expecting 4 inches of rain, horrible severe storms, flying cows, etc. have the patented very bad feeling in my stomach.
friday, 1230pm: leave work to go home, pack last minute items and such. my usual 20 minute commute takes me 1hr, 45mins because 4 of the exits of lakeshore drive are closed due to flooding.
friday, 215pm: arrive home to my street covered in a foot of water and no electricity. run around like mad for 45 minutes shoving things into boxes and bags, sweating to death because its 90 degrees with 90% humidity and the a/c and fan don't work since there's no power. marvel at my mad dash skills.
friday, 3pm: leave home to pick up dry cleaning for funeral on saturday, pick up J from work and get uhaul. call movers and leave message making sure everything is ok, checking to see if they need directions.
friday, 4pm: arrive at J's work. he's running late, which (always) enrages me. we have movers coming at 6 and traffic is horrible b/c of the weather.
friday, 430pm: leave J's work 30 mins late.
friday, 445pm: wait in line for 15 mins, pick up uhaul.
friday, 5pm: J decides he needs to cash his paycheck and has to eat. also, he is in a horrible mood and i am stressed to the max.
friday, 520pm: start heading back to my place. traffic is redonk.
friday, 605pm: arrive back at my apartment. no word from movers. call and no answer.
friday, 607pm: check email on iphone. have an email from the movers timestamped at 557pm saying "the weather is pretty bad, we should probably reschedule." AN EMAIL, REALLY? THREE MINUTES BEFORE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO ARRIVE? REALLY?!
friday, 608pm: flip out. MASSIVE PANIC. but, i am so upset and pissed off that i can't cry. J is astounded by this feat.
friday, 609pm: J and i commence calling movers, for a total of about 20 calls. leave numerous messages. no return calls.
friday, 620pm: call movinghelp.com, the service we used to hire movers. they attempt to contact the company with no success, either. they offer to help us find another company; the uhaul has to be back at 8am tomorrow and J is a pallbearer in a funeral at 930am. we can't prolong the process any more because we don't have time and i can't afford to indefinitely rent a uhaul.
friday, 630pm: movinghelp.com finds new movers who can come out to help. they're more costly, but i don't care at this point.
friday, 815pm: new movers arrive. two kids who can't be over the age of 18. but, they're young and strong and start working hard from the get go.
friday, 915pm: truck loaded, pretty much everything is inside except the final cleaning supplies and hanging clothes, which i'll get later.
friday, 920pm: on the drive to our new place, i joke with J that it would be funny if the elevator was out or something happened because of the weather. he doesn't find it humorous at all.
friday, 940pm: turns out i am a psychic. arrive at new place and turn into parking lot; run into MASS FUCKING CHAOS. two trees have fallen, crushed four cars. police and fire are there. people are EVERYWHERE. there's nowhere to park. also, THE POWER IS OUT. we live on the fourth floor. MASSIVE PANIC.
friday, 945pm: am able to back into a spot that sucks for unloading, but it is better than nothing.
friday, 946pm: open the uhaul. we're promptly confronted by an odd lady who brusquely asks "what are you doing here with a uhaul?" we explain that i'm moving in. she proceeds to raise hell, telling us she is with the condo association. apparently, moving is only allowed before 430 on weekdays. she's also miffed that she didn't know anyone was living in our unit. she then asks who i am, if i am related to J. back off, lady.
friday, 950pm: the guys start moving stuff inside, through the crowd of people and up four flights of dark, hot stairs.
friday, 1015pm: i'm still talking to the old lady, being as charming and friendly as i can. we establish a rapport and i think i've won her over. she apologizes for her initial 'tude and sympathizes with our bad day.
friday, 1115pm: everything is inside. i leave the guys to get everything upstairs and go gas up and drop off the uhaul.
friday, 1145pm: arrive home (with dinner!) to a hot, smelly, damp, dark apartment. for some reason, half the power is on (living room and half the bedroom), but not the a/c, SUCK.
saturday, 1245am: after a cool shower and food, go to bed. immediately pass the eff out.
saturday, 8am: wake up to shower again and get ready for funeral. J is impossible to get out of bed.
saturday, 9am: leave for funeral.
saturday, 930am: arrive at funeral... which turns out to be a wake, funeral and burial ALL AT ONCE. it is the longest, strangest service i have ever been to.
saturday, 130pm: finally leave the cemetary and get food. race back (but not really, because we're in traffic most of the time) to our place, as our new living room furniture is coming between 230-530.
saturday, 240pm: arrive at home. start moving stuff to its proper locations and unpacking a little.
saturday, 535pm: new furniture arrives at the last possible minute. true to luck, our brand new sofa has a fairly large worn spot on the left arm. have to make appointment to get it fixed.
saturday, 6pm: hop in car and drive J to dick's so he can get new football socks. drive to football game and drop him off.
saturday, 7pm: run to walmart to pick up a few things.
saturday, 8pm: go back and watch J's football game, wait for them to finish losing so we can go home.
saturday, 11pm: eat dinner.
sunday, 12am: arrive home.
sunday, 10am: wake up, pack up cargo van with our extra stuff.
sunday, 1pm: minor freak out because I DONT KNOW WHERE ANY OF MY STUFF IS AND IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE. takes me 30 minutes to get dressed because i can't find an appropriate shirt.
sunday, 245pm: arrive at J's dad's house and unload furniture and boxes.
sunday, 4pm: take J's dad to dinner for father's day.
sunday, 9pm: arrive home after traffic and dropping off the cargo van.
sunday, 10pm: spend an hour with my boyfriend that doesn't involve moving something, driving somewhere or figuring out how to pay for something.
monday, 8am: wake up, so glad i took the day off. spend all day moving things around and unpacking. get about 60% done; all that remains is the kitchen and clothes to hang.
but hey... i live with my boyfriend now. so, that's exciting. back in june, it felt like a nightmare... it would have been so much better (albeit less hilarious) IF everything possible that could go wrong didn't.
looking back, it's a funny story. in the moment (well, momentS), i seriously questioned if these events were omens. i mean, NOTHING should be that difficult. in the end, it all worked out. i like to think the crazy stuff that happened during remodel and move-in was all just a test... and i think we passed. five months in to living together and we're doing great. thank goodness. i'm afraid to think of what's to come next time we move... more natural disasters? severe bodily injury? nuclear warfare? ugh.
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