Big truck full of stuff we couldn’t part with, his Explorer on a trailor, and twelve hours with a cat in the cab. Then, four floors of up, up, and up. Don’t wonder why we haven’t kept this updated. We are just now catching our breath, getting Internet, and trying to get the gas turned on. Let me start with the day we arrived…

We were dead by the time the trip ended. We were actually gone by 4:30am as planned, and we started hitting traffic just outside Chicago after twelve hours. We were so close, and now we had to wait. We just wanted to get out of that truck! Yet, we still had to mess with the U-Haul place to get the Explorer off the trailor before they closed. Driving and riding in the moving van wore us out, but the biggest toll was taken on the cat. As many of you know, she keeps a hectic schedule napping in various places around the apartment. In the cab, there was no possible way she could get a moment’s shut eye without being jarred awake by bumpy roads or channel changes on the radio. She tried, trust me. It was fruitless. Eventually, she became hypnotized and delirious. She just sat there, between her daddies, falling asleep and getting jarred back awake. I knew the feeling, but I had to laugh.

We hauled a few things up the stairs to be able to sleep and take a shower. I barely remember collapsing into bed. We both woke up bright and early to forage for food nearby, which was a breeze. We started moving a few things in ourselves, and we were making excellent progress. We got to a logical stopping point, and was ready for a breather, but the movers show up an hour early. Any other time, I would be glad for that. Not so much right then. Jamocha immediately hid under the covers and did not come out for the rest of the morning.

We got the entire truck unloaded and up the stairs in two hours. We were done by 11:30am. We take the truck back to U-Haul, and have breakfast, again. I get a call from Comcast between my coffee and French Toast. He wants to come over now, instead of the arranged 2pm appointment. What is up with all these early birds? I explain that it will be a couple of hours before I have a computer working, and we need to stick to the original appointment. We eat and get back to the apartment, and we are feeling the burn. I get a computer and the TV setup for the cable guy to install video and Internet. Long ordeal ensues, and I end up with television but no Internet. Maybe I will tell that story next post…

We discover the gas is not on, and try to call the gas company to make arrangements. Automated hell and stupid wait times follow. I try to establish service online, by driving to a nearby coffee shop with Internet access. I complete a huge web form, with all my personal secrets, and hit submit. The result page tells me that the system is being upgraded, and someone will call me in five days. Five days. That is FIVE DAYS. I can pay instantly, but nobody is going to do any thing about turning my service on for a week. They could at least have told me BEFORE I filled out the form that it would take a week. I might have held on the phone for an hour if I knew it would take FIVE DAYS for someone to check their email.

We have a microwave and no Internet. You can imagine how lost I was. Joel comes to the rescue. Apparently, some time ago, they started making a frozen entree called TV Dinners. I had to read the box it came in for instructions. There were no recipe ideas or serving suggestions like I am accustomed. Apparently they are meant to be eaten as is, and that is a shame. Know I know that TV stands for Taste Vacant. I had no idea they could grow vegetables that tasted like nothing. Even after a hearty pinch of salt, it just tasted salty. The next night, we ordered Pizza. We might be broke from the move, but there is no reason to suffer bad meals for it.

After an exhausting 11 hour drive on a rainy Sunday, we drove around the small village of Elmhurst which is right outside the metro area of Chicago. It is right on the commuter rail line, and has the most adorable downtown. Just imagine a River Market on steroids with places like Trios, Brave New Restaurant, La Scala, and PF Changs all right next to each other. There is an old style theater right in the middle and all the usual conveniences and shopping within six or seven blocks. We fell in love with the area immediately. All the hard work of scouting ahead from the internet and newspapers were for nought. Everything was too high, didn’t allow pets, had no parking, or mistook being right next to the railroad tracks as “convenient to commuter line.” Crossing things off the list, we were forced to just drive around and pick phone nmbers up off of signs.

We found this old building with several “for rent” and “for sale” signs in the yard and in windows. Either someone had been murdered there or the place had just been renovated. Lucky for us, the place was recently rehabbed. We looked at a one bedroom, and thought the deal was good. It was a charmer with hardwood floors, tall ceilings, and french doors between the living room and dining room. Too cute! Then, we muscled our way in to see a two bedroom that was being shown to someone else at the time. We waited for the others to leave, and started the negotiation.

We struck a deal, and followed the guy back to his office where we signed a handwritten lease. Done! We did it in one day, which was a record for both of us. Luck had nothing to do with it. Complete desperation made us drop all the conventional apartment buildings and complexes with pools and game rooms for a vintage building with no elevator. Did I mention we are on the fourth floor? Any other apartment building would have called the stairwell a “workout facility” and charged us extra.

Things are going into boxes already. There is a stack of boxes in our entrance and we have been wrapping the fragile pieces of memorabilia and tucking them into their temporary homes for the long drive northward. In doing so, personal priorities and ancient artifacts sometimes come into contention.

While Joel was at choir rehearsal, I took the initiative to wrangle our candles together to get them stored. We can live without candles for the next couple of weeks, so it made sense to get them out of the way. I had set a few aside that needed to be tossed, and started to gather up the rest. Before I was done, I had a huge armload of drooping, misshapen wax. I wasn’t sure I had a box that would work for them all. You can’t really stack them, and they aren’t tall enough to lay on the side. Plus, they are all more organically shaped than the fresh columns we started with. I finally found a short box that I could stand them in, but it was just barely tall enough. They all couldn’t go, so I had to leave a few of the bigger ones for later. I tucked newspaper around them to keep them in their place. I was so proud when I was done. It felt like I had finished working one of those word problems that starts like “There are three objects. The first is one-third of the total volume of the other two multiplied by 2…”

I was watching Judith, our dear friend, on television when I moved on to the platters and bowls. I had lost all track of time. Joel comes bounding in after rehearsal, and was thrilled that I had gotten more packing done. I mention the candles, and he tells me that he had planned to throw most of them away. I didn’t bother to mention the chore it was to get them in the box just so. I smile, and move back to the platters and bowls. “There are two people in a room. One can solve complex volumetric problems, and the other can see that there is no problem to solve. Which is smarter?”

Well, we brought home the first round of scavenged boxes for the upcoming move. Have you priced new, flat boxes lately? They are as expensive per cubic foot as property in the Heights! We are coming to more concrete terms with the reality of moving each day, but it doesn’t seem to be making it much easier. As I look around at our accumulated stuff, I am reminded of our great times together and fun adventures from trips in the past. We both feel a quiver of anticipation when we pore over the dog-eared Chicago map looking for neighborhoods and access to the Metra and “El” commuter trains.

Sorting through things brings up the only sore topic in the whole endeavor…leaving so many friends behind. In truth, we have so many circles of friends that it will be very hard to stay in touch. This makes us think of of all the laughter and good natured teasing we have shared with our friends over the years. We don’t have blood family to tear ourselves away from, but we have a tremendous adopted family that makes us feel at home. We might miss it at times, but it is something that we don’t have to put in a box and stack on the truck. These relationships will be right there in the cab with us. Even if we did want to pile them all in the back, the truck just couldn’t carry it all. We know how much stuff we have to pack, but we are grateful for the things that will be going along with us without needing to be wrapped.

Words for the Heart
The Heart Sutra is chanted at almost every Buddhist occasion. Most serious practitioners have it memorized from reciting it so often. Some may even think they understand it because they know it word for word. Hakuin saw the error of such a view, so he wrote some notes in the margins to test their understanding, to push them to their utter limits. His comments may have a sting, but the cleansing action is second to none.