We-Haul

One of the aspects of packing up our apartment that I hadn't anticipated was how disorienting it would be for Reilly, who clearly seemed confused at what had happened to her living space. Still, she took it in stride, and made the best out of the situation by exploring the various boxes stacked around the apartment. Pictured below is Reilly climbing the plastic and cardboard mountain that had taken over our living room.


On Saturday, my good friend Seth joined me (and two hired movers) in the arduous process of moving the contents of our apartment down four floors and across the sidewalk to the U-Haul. It took us two hours and an awful lot of sweat and cursing, but by 2:00pm, the task had been completed. Seth and I celebrated the event by having a cold Budweiser out front on the stoop. Cindy and Abby, who had been watching the truck, made small talk with us. We said goodbye a short time later, none of us making a big deal out of it, but as the door closed on their final goodbyes, the gravity of the parting took hold.

I distracted myself by jumping into the final cleaning of the apartment. My dad, who had arrived a few minutes earlier, vacuumed the floors. I mopped the kitchen. Before we left, I snapped a picture of the space where Reilly had been in the picture posted above.

It took my dad and I three days (two nights) to complete the 24 hour trip to Florida. It was great to have someone like my dad to make the trip with, and especially cool to stop and see my brother in Virginia. When you only get to see a sibling twice a year, adding another visit is priceless.

We drove a mixture of interstate and country highways, giving us a nice blend of convenience and authenticity. I saw an alligator swimming a muddy stream in Georgia, pecan plantations in South Carolina, and farm after farm of soybeans, tobacco, and corn in Virginia. The south has such beautiful country, and as the smell of smog gave way to the smell of earth, I felt calm and happy.

Still, I couldn't shake my doubts of what the future holds for us, the vortex of circumstance and chance which is so powerful when a family uproots their collective lives to start anew. Like speeding through the blur of a tunnel, the road stretches surely before us, but what lies ahead is uncertain and unknown.