I am writing a series of posts about moving, and more specifically about my recent move. I have a strong desire to acknowledge how the Lord has helped us in big ways like life guidance and in small ways, like helping us sort our possessions. Today, I want to tell the story of the actual move. We have heard multiple horror stories of moves. In one sense, our move was a debacle. In another sense it was a testimony to me of God’s care, and the mandate we Christians have to make our good God visible in our actions.
We set our date for the moving truck to come on August 6, in order to ensure that it arrived in Colorado before we had to leave again for a wedding on August 16. Bill worked hard to scrutinize the company, because evidently moving companies are notorious for nightmare experiences! The move took place in two steps, the first of which was some professional packing. Two very competent packers were scheduled to pack our breakables on Monday August 5. Orlando and Luis did a great job packing 9 very heavy large dish packs and some other things like lamps and mirrors. But they weren’t on our crew for August 6.
On Tuesday morning a huge truck arrived early, around 8 am, and on our end, we were still frantically choosing which books to take and packing those boxes, as well as all sorts of other stuff we hadn’t gotten to. Our daughter, Katie, flew in from Minneapolis to assist and she was enormously helpful and essential. Rachel was at work that day until 4, but was also giving us significant help and support. It was right before hurricane Debby began to shower Princeton, so it was very humid! There was a driver, Gally, and 3 movers. One, John, was experienced and he was often in the truck for long stretches securing what the packers brought to him. That left Davian, for whom this was his first day, but he was very strong and fit, and Kevin, who was marginally more experienced, but not fit. By about 11:00, Kevin was on the verge of heat exhaustion/stroke. He was sweating profusely, shaking, and cramping, and he asked me for salt water. My salt was packed! But I providentially had Nuun tablets, which are electrolytes which you put in water, and that miraculously stabilized him. He needed 3 more to get through the day, and each other mover eventually felt the effects of the heat index enough to also have electrolytes administered. I began praying, not only for our belongings but that these four workers would make it through the day, and that our possessions would not be the cause for serious harm to their health.
About 3 pm, it began to rain a bit and the loading paused. There was still a lot to load, including a piano. About 3:30 someone in the neighborhood called the police because the truck was blocking traffic after someone else parked across from the truck. The police informed us we were supposed to get a permit. The police man decided to be gracious to us and just ask the truck driver to move a bit, which he finally did after protesting. At 4 it really started raining and Rachel came home. In the face of the rain and the lateness in the day, the movers finally said we could help, and we four became movers, shrink-wrapping multiple pieces of furniture. We finished loading around 7 and Bill asked the driver where the inventory was and where to sign. The driver said “we’re all good” though he had done no inventory. So he drove off with all our possessions with no record and we had an additional opportunity to trust God for the protection of our stuff. Over the course of the next 24 hours, Bill had some amicable conversations with the manager, who freaked out that Gally had done no inventory.
Despite the fact that the moving truck broke down in transit somewhere in Missouri on the 12th, our load arrived on Wednesday, August 14. The delivery went much more smoothly than the loading. We have no way of knowing if it all arrived, but the furniture is all here, and the dish packs are here (we had an inventory of those boxes), and lots of other boxes. The piano was dropped off at Sarah’s and is still in tune! There were more irregularities on the part of the driver – he was quite a character – but nothing too consequential. The manager told us not to sign the papers which now the driver did have, since we had no papers for the loading. And afterward, the manager offered us a restaurant dinner on the company because Bill was so unusually nice given the irregularities. I am proud of him! If I had been the point person for the move, I am not sure I would have been as kind and even keeled, despite consciously reminding myself throughout the day that these four movers and how we treated them was more important than our possessions. We will never see them again, but they are not anonymous to the Lord. They are fellow human beings. We tried to show them care and compassion as they lifted heavy loads for us.
Not one dish was broken. Thanks to Katie’s expert packing of all the artwork, it is in beautiful shape. Everything arrived in time for us to travel to the wedding as planned. We are thankful to God for his protection of all the movers involved and our belongings. Our house is becoming a home for however many years God gives us here. We have hosted our first guests and anticipate more in the near future. God is gracious! Let us know if you are coming to Colorado!