Hot, Hilarious, and How Things Go From Here

We just moved my Grandparents into their new place at Good Samaritan village. Uncle Dave and Aunt Janeen showed up last night; two dudes from Good Sam came at 10 to 7 this morning to pick up a few items in the basement to take to the annual Good Sam garage sale; Aunt Jeanne and Dave Dacar came this morning around 8 am to join the 5 or so other friends and neighbors who graciously volunteered their time and backs for the move. Grandpa thought we'd be done at noon. We had everything unloaded and were eating watermelon at 11 am.

I am sitting at One World Cafe in retreat from the stress of the unpacking process not to mention the near 100-degree heat. I'm kinda stunned at how relatively smoothly the last few hours went.  Grandma was, as I expected, pretty agitated and stressed out by all of the activity (not to mention having very little say in any part of this particular part of the moving process). When I got up- she was all over me for not helping before drinking my morning coffee. Of course she was up at 5 am- anxious to get things done and over with. Despite having slept like a big piece of poo myself- I applied all of my acquired Mary Nell-neutralizing zen (which is more or less focused ignoring of her word salad blended with calling out the egregiously inappropriate behaviors- like saying "that's really mature" to her throwing towels at me because I wasn't helping the way she wanted). And though Jeanne also reported some Mary Nell malice, it could've been a lot worse I think. 

Anyhow- everything is out of 489 Paradise Dr. and either in 617 Einsenhower (or in the Garage). That is, everything except all of my crap (which is in the basement storage area at 489).  Just looking at it all compiled in one place- it actually looks like enough stuff to fill an apartment (and more pressingly- a Uhaul). I may actually have to ditch a few things to get it all to fit into the 10 footer that I have reserved for August 9th. Strange and serendipitous that my move should coincide with Gordy and Mary Nell's. I am so thankful to have enough things to more or less show up in Knoxville and NOT have to run around looking at garage sales, craigslist, and thrift stores. 

I am spending one last night here in Moscow tonight (interestingly over at the old place- it was sleep on the couch at the new place or on my bed at the old place). I am hopping the Dirty Dog (Greyhound) for Spokane, WA tomorrow at 2:30 pm and spending the night with Joel before flying out to Seattle on Monday for the week. I am so excited to have 5 full days to see my dearest friends out there before heading out east. I'm carpooling back to Spokane with my buddy Michael Fox and his girlfriend Brooke on Friday. We're planning on an overnight in the Leavenworth area that night and then they'll drop me off at the Gorge on Saturday for Phish. That's right- I'm going to catch Phish at the Gorge with Jens Norman Olsgaard and Joel Edward Soden. Look out. It's going to be a riot. 

Then, on Sunday morning, when we get fried out of our tent at the Gorge-  the three of us hosers will drive back to Spokane. I pick up my Uhaul in the early afternoon and drive for Moscow to load things up in the cool of the late afternoon and early evening (hopefully it's cool). And then I'll crash with Granny and Gramps that night, and then hit the road bright and early on August the 10th. Holy Poop-one adventure after another. 

This morning- after a poopy night's sleep, being immediately attacked by Grandma's anxiety, not to mention thinking about all of the little details of final packing, making my own next big move, and generally worrying about how it will all come together- I was feeling stressed. Sitting here after a successful morning of moving, a satisfying last trip to the Goodwill and Recycling center- I feel reassured and am reminded of one of my favorite Tom Petty lyrics from my favorite Tom Petty Album (Wildflowers)- "most things we worry about, never happen anyway".