Moving Day

The phone rings and you smile; somebody's thinking about you! You peek at your caller ID to see who this special person is and your heart skips a beat. You know what's coming and you begin to make excuses. I have to take my dog to the vet. You don't have a dog, that won't work. I'm not feeling well. No, they'll know that's BS. The phone starts its second ring and you are so startled it feels like you're playing "hot potato." Then you get an idea, you actually consider breaking your phone. No, that would be a really bad idea, you don't want to pay for a new phone. Time is running out on the call and you're left with two options: you can ignore the call and feel guilty all day thinking about it or you can suck it up and answer and be a good human being. You're a good human being so you answer, quietly, hoping maybe they're not really on the other end of the line after all. Sure enough, you hear that person's voice but really all you can hear coming out of their mouth is "help, I need somebody, help, not just anybody, help, I need someone, heeellppp." And the next thing you know, you have been recruited to help them move into a new place!

Ok, so helping a friend or family move is not as daunting as it may seem, but I honestly hate moving and last weekend my parents and I helped my sister and her roommate move into a new apartment. After all the shopping was done we went back to their apartment to start putting the pieces together, and we have a system. (After moving into about 10 houses/apartments we should have a system by now!... and you wonder why I have such disdain for moving) So, my mom helped the girls set up their room while my dad and I worked on the kitchen/living room areas. We got cracking and I bet if you were to have put us on "fastforward" to speed up the unpacking process, the classic circus music would have been pushing us along quite nicely.

Once my dad fixed the TV and hung up their pictures to put the finishing touches on their new home, we collapsed on the couch. Moving takes a lot out of you! I turned to my dad and I said, "you know how I'm feeling right now? It's been a hard day's night" and he continued singing with me "and I've been workin' like a dog," all we wanted to do was nothing. But, moving day was not quite over yet. When someone asks you to help move, what do they always promise you in return? That's right, dinner and drinks! That's my favorite part. Getting dinner all together as the moving team is the best way for the new home owner/renter to say "thank you for being a friend." I remember when I was little we were moving to a new home in New Jersey and our family came to help us settle in. We didn't have any furniture yet so we ate pizza off of upside down boxes at the end of the day. But I have to say, I think dinner in DC surpassed the excitement of a 10 year old getting to eat pizza on the floor (although that was pretty cool!).

The next day my sister and her roommate posted a picture to Facebook, the first picture in their new place, and they were elated. I could just see them sitting there humming to themselves "well we're movin' on up..."

Help
Circus
Hard Day's Night
Golden Girls
Movin' On Up