What happens under the mistletoe stays under the mistletoe.
In came the call, early in the morning, and Mary said, “I have a good idea!” I responded with, “OK, I’m in! What are we doing?” She responded with. “Let’s go pack and move my office at the VA!”. I responded with, “Oh, Vey!”
I asked how much there was, and in a muted, also unhearable whisper, she said, “Just a little bit!”. Well, that was a bit of a misstatement.
It looked like the Library of Congress!
So it is now 9:00 AM, and the convoy has arrived at the VA; I in my van and her in her truck. We had twenty packing boxes, two hand trucks, block and tackle, three prybars, a gallon of WD-40, and a quart of BenGay with us, and Mary found another six boxes in the storage area. We are ready! We began thinking it would be quick. Well, that was not the case.
Thirty-three years in the same office means lots of things were carefully filed away!
We packed and packed and packed some more. Boxes were carefully filled, labeled, and moved into the hallway. We are happy it was a Sunday, and no one was around because we could have set up a blockade with all the boxes we had. We were so tired, and Mary had to crawl to the chair to get verticle again!
By mid-afternoon, we were beginning to show signs of wear!
OK, we had a major milestone! Everything was packed; now it was time for moving the goodies about a quarter-mile to the awaiting vehicles. That wasn’t the bad part; the quarter-mile back to the office was a killer. We loaded the van with fifteen boxes making sure we had room for “daddy,” Mary’s man-eating plant. That plant had been on top of an IBM Selectric typewriter for almost fifteen years so getting it untangled was not easy.
Mary had some other interesting specimens in the office. Specimens in a doctor’s office?
Don’t laugh; he was 20-20 vision!
Using my iPhone pedometer, I registered four miles of walking before lunch!
I wondered why my feet hurt later on in the day!
Time to move “daddy.” We rolled that sucker down the hallway, and if there were a camera crew around, the segment could be aired as “Attack Of The Green Monster.” Three people saw the plant coming down the hallway and scream, turned around, and ran like the wind (I guess they did not see Mary behind the plant pushing it along). Out into the parking lot, we wrestled it to the van, and with all our combined strength, in it went. I swear I heard it growl at me.
Mary kept reassuring him that we were going to a nice new home in Orange!
OK, we are out of boxes, so I head out to Lowe’s just up the 605 Freeway. While there, I also got more tape and some bubble-back for the breakables. Returning to the scene of the crime, I remember Mary saying, “When I get hungry, I get grumpy.” Not want to face more work plus a grumpy puss, I made a command decision to arrange for Mary to have some fine dining.
Two cheeseburgers, hold the onions, and an order of fries!
We dined and packed for another two hours and finally got everything moved. Mary’s truck was full, and my van was stuffed to the gills.
Mary is checking the toolbox for pliers.
It was getting dark as we got the final boxes loaded, hand-carts fastened on, and boxes taped to assure we did not leave a paper trail down the freeway.
It was dark when we arrived home, and Mary, being resourceful and brilliant, called the neighbors and enticed them to come help unload the vehicles. Mary and I could not hardily wiggle by the time we walked in the door. First things first, a glass of wine to help lubricate the stuck parts.
We called Colleen and Robin on the Bat Pone while Mary was preparing dinner for us. We then promptly watched some TV and crashed. The last words of the evening were, “Put a fork in me; I am done.”
