Moving memories

Daddy Bear offered some Moving Nightmares in a recent post and reminded me of moves I've seen and moves I've made.

One of my father's father's businesses was a moving company and my father and uncle worked for him when they were teenagers. As teenagers they moved entire households across the country and in the doing gained lots of experience. So, despite the fact that Dad gave up the moving business as soon as he was able, he always insisted on moving us.

And everyone else who asked.

Anytime anyone was moving Dad would gather all of us up and we'd go pack houses, load trucks, and move.

Once my sister and her family were moving, and the weekend before the move Mom, Sis, my niece and I went to the new house, cleaned, and placed sticky notes detailing where everything was to go on every door, cabinet and drawer. (Niece and I were in 2nd grade, so there were a few extraneous stickies.)

On moving day, they dropped us off at school and while my sister and SIL#1 packed boxes, Dad, my brothers and brother-in-law loaded furniture and every box as it was ready. When they got to the new house my mother and SIL#2 were waiting to unpack, while Sis and SIL#1 stayed at the old house and prepared the next load.

By the time we got out of school that day the move was completed, dishes were washed, everything was unpacked and put away, and the beds were made. From 4 bedroom house to 5 bedroom in 6 hours.

Nephew still tells people about the time that his parents dropped him off at kindergarten and moved, but he found them.

Due to all of that we learned how to pack. I mean really pack. Sis, SIL#3 and I made a trip to Europe together for a few weeks once. Now SIL#3 claimed to be an experienced traveler, so we didn't offer any packing advice. Mistake. Big mistake. When we met up at the airport Sis and I each had a single carry on. SIL#3 had two suitcases and a suit bag. One of the suitcases was the size of the trunk of her car. For 40 days, with hotels and restaurants and friends.

Upon spying this monstrosity during SIL#3's approach, SIS said, "She's got to be kidding. I could pack my whole house in that."

Ever tactful, as she came up to us I immediately said, "Are you crazy? How are you going to manage dragging that around on cobblestone streets and over long distances?"

SIL3# replied, "It has wheels. It'll be fine."

Yeah, not so much. Two blocks into the 5 block walk from the train station to our hotel she pooped out. Sis took over the suit bag, and as the youngest I got the privilege of managing the monstrosity. I was stuck schlepping that hideous piece of...baggage all over Europe, but I'm sure I'll forgive her someday.