Goodbye House!
In one weeks time, We "lived" in three different houses, and had to move twice. Can you say stressful! We moved out of our summer home (the pink trailer) on August 11. We were renting someones home, so I definitely wanted to leave it cleaner than when we got there, to make it look like we were never there. They were so kind to let us stay in their house, with our dog, so I cleaned that place till it shined! We packed up all our stuff and drove back to Harper for our last few nights in our house there. I totally underestimated how hard it would be to leave my home and my life in Oregon!
The night we got back to Harper, the Harper School staff threw us a going away party. I was so touched by all the people that showed up to say goodbye. It reminded me how many wonderful people I got to know in my short three years in Harper, and just how great it is to live in a small town. Some of the best people I have ever known, I met in Harper, Oregon. The school has a tradition that they do with their seniors at graduation. They make shirts for each student that have something personal for them, usually an inside joke, or poking fun at them. They presented Tyler and I with shirts that they had made just for us. Mine said "Kelsey finally has class," referring to my first time having a full time teaching job! I love it! Years ago, Tyler made a bet with one of the students, and lost. He had to wear a dress to school because of it. The shirt he was given had a picture of a man in a dress and the words "I shouldn't have made that bet." My closest friend, Alicia Anderson, gave me a bag of ranch Doritos and cottage cheese! She knows that is my favorite snack! I was blown away by the thoughtfulness. I didn't think saying goodbye would be so difficult and so emotional. I cried myself to sleep that night...
The next six days were a whirlwind. We packed and cleaned, and cleaned and packed! I could not believe how much stuff we had. I felt like the packing would never end. We were able to squeeze in some family time for more goodbyes, though. Even though I am so excited to be close to my family again, it is going to be so hard not being by Tyler's family anymore. Saying goodbye was not easy.
Then came the big day. On August 17, we loaded up, left our home, and headed to American Falls, Idaho. On the morning of the 17th, my in-laws, Matt, Linda, Stephanie, Lane, and Trace came over and loaded us up. Matt and Linda borrowed a horse trailer from someone so we wouldn't have to rent a U-Haul. I am so grateful to them for everything they did for us! Linda sprayed and scrubbed all the horse crap out of the trailer so we could use it. Tyler, Matt, and Stephanie loaded up the trailer while Linda and I mopped, vacuumed, and cleaned the carpets. I really did not think all our stuff would fit in that trailer, but Stephanie was amazing! She found a way to fit everything in, with a little room to spare! It all took much longer than we expected, but went off much more smoothly than I expected. The biggest problem we had while loading up was with our desk. Tyler had a huge, really nice desk that we had in one of the spare rooms. We could not figure out how to get the thing out of the room! It got so beat up in attempts to move it out. We couldn't get it apart at first, but Matt finally got enough parts off to fit it out the door. We tried to put it back together in the trailer, because that would be the easiest way to fit it in, but then we couldn't figure that out. We never got it so the drawers fit back in. I don't know what we will do with it now. I wanted to post a couple of pictures to remember what the house looked like with almost all our belongings in one room. It doesn't seem like much in the pictures, but it sure seemed like a lot while packing and loading.
The trip was very slow moving, but eventually we got to our rental in American Falls. Tyler had to leave for football practice as soon as we got there, so he didn't have to help us unload the trailer! Our good friend Blake came over to help, and we really appreciated that. Unfortunately, things did not go as smoothly with the move as it seemed... The first thing we saw when we opened the trailer was that my TV stand was completely crushed. It had snapped in half then buckled under all the weight that had been stacked on it. I was bummed, but I wasn't going to get to worked up about it. However, the next thing we pulled out was my big, brand new, beautiful bookshelf. It had huge dings in a couple of the shelves and a huge scratch down the side. I tried so hard to keep my cool, but tears just started coming. Then I noticed that one of the rails to our headboard had slid out of place. It had slid into another beautiful, short bookshelf we had, and the metal part of it had apparently been rubbing against it the whole ride. It rubbed off the finish on a big section and wore a hole into the wood. That really got me going. I was flat out crying at this point. I thought that was all the damage that had been done. All my decorations got there in one piece, and everything else looked fine. Me and Linda wanted to be done and leave the rest for Tyler when he got home from practice, so we left for a little drive and to buy some drinks. When we got back, Matt and Blake had unloaded everything else! It wasn't until the next day that I noticed my kitchen table also did not make it unscathed. It got a huge chunk taken out of the edge of it! All my furniture looks like crap!
That week was an emotional roller coaster for me. I hope to eventually, some time down the road, make it back to the Vale area, but I also never want to move again! I am so grateful to all the people that helped us get to where we are now. Moving sucked, but I am glad we had Matt and Linda there to help me through it. I don't know what we would have done without them. Now, once we get into our new home, my family will get to help us move again! Can't wait... NOT!
1 comments:
This sounds all too familiar. Chunks out of my headboard, shavings out of my dining room table.....agreed...Moving sucks!
Post a Comment