Summer Diary: Day 73: The Move

I tried to hold it in. But I couldn't. Hugging my Susan friend goodbye was harder than I was expecting it to be. I cried & cried. And so did she. I know we won't be terribly far apart from each other, & in fact we plan on continuing our adventures. But it's the 'not being so conveniently close' part that I'm having trouble with. We joked how we actually communicate via facebook more than anything. On more than one occasion my phone has rung & I notice her name on the caller ID screen. I answer the phone with a "Did you call me on purpose?" We are a texting, facebooking, emailing, instant messaging pair of friends. 

The lump in my throat was finally gone. But so began the hole in my heart.

The 2 1/2 hour drive to North Platte wasn't bad at all. We were part of a caravan heading east. The moving truck, 2 carloads of friends (which, unfortunately didn't include Susan), & then me in the van. (I was the only one without air conditioning I might add. The sweaty stripe down my back & the crazy-woman-windblown hair were awesome additions to my already sad & puffy eyes.)

With a pit stop at a Shell gas station that claims to have "The Cleanest Restrooms on I-80" (& indeed they do), I grabbed some Nutter Butter cookies & some Wasabi-n-Soy Sauce almonds & hit the road for the last leg of the trip.

When we arrived in North Platte, we got to see the inside of the house for the first time. (Can you believe it?!) I was pleasantly surprised. A couple friendly neighbors introduced themselves. And around suppertime, a crew of about 15 or so people from our new church came to help us unload the truck & brought pizzas for feasting! It was pretty sweet.

If I thought that yesterday I felt exhausted....Today I was brain dead & completely delirious. I was tired & just wanted to collapse. I had spent a good part of the afternoon unpacking kitchen boxes. I found proper places for food items, pots & pans. Dishes wrapped in newspaper were washed in soapy suds. 

And all the while I was frantically trying to find the boxes that housed sheets for the beds.

The lovely local people that came to help were full of good intentions, but I honestly didn't know how they could help me. After the boxes were unloaded from the truck, many of the ladies were wanting to be of assistance in any way they could. It's odd having strangers go through your things though, & I didn't have energy enough to tell them where to put what, when I didn't even know where things should or would go myself. And, quite frankly, I was zapped & could barely keep up with the small talk.

The evening ended with some chillin' at Starbucks. I actually live by a Starbucks. Almost 3 years without, & I am now giddy! Seriously, this is going to be so weird to have so much accessible to me, after living in a small town with limited access to much of anything, where the town shuts down early every night. I did grow to enjoy the "frills" & "distractions" not being so readily available. We'll see how I fare...

Our friends that traveled from Bridgeport with us, to help with the move, spent the night in our home. It was a giant slumber party. And I LOVED that they took time to come along!!!!

I cannot describe how wonderful it was to lay on my bed & sleep that night. I felt so heavy & sank deeper into that mattress than I ever had before.

♥