Red Right Hand

Three intense days later, we're in Maryland.

It has almost been a week, and it feels like it has been months. I don't know how I've survived the last week or two, but I did it.

My last day of work at the NYC office was Friday the 13th of September. I completed my five years there and got the pin to prove it. After that, Carly was back at work and our mothers had gone home, so it was my turn to stay at home and be a single dad for a while. I took some vacation time off that I had saved up just for that purpose. Additionally, when you move between offices in the same agency of the federal government, you're entitled to five days to wrap up things, move, unpack, get your driver's license, etc. Effectively, I had three weeks off to wind down our life in NJ, pack, and get ready for the move.

Of course, it's never that easy. Between taking care of the kid and taking care of myself, there was very little time in the day to pack anything. I got a huge amount done, though, and the stack of boxes in our apartment was formidable.

The first week I had off, I helped move my friend, Sokin, down to Maryland, so he could start his new job (he can't drive, so I had to drive the van). Since we were headed to the same place, we packed every spare inch of space in that van with our books and other stuff and planned to drive down Wednesday morning. Before that, I had to take the Wolf to my sister's house so she could watch him all day. My sister's place is in central Jersey. Getting out there, around 7:30AM, opposite the commuting traffic, was easy and took about 40 minutes. The way back, after what I thought would be rush hour, was awful. I think it took me two hours and fifteen minutes to get back to my place. Sokin and I rushed out and managed to get to the new apartment around 3:00PM. We unloaded the truck, went and picked up a new set of couches and then I went to drop off the van. I was running late for my train so I had to call a local friend to pick me up and drop me off at Union Station. I didn't get back to Jersey until 2:00AM.

A week later, Carly got a call for an interview for a job in DC and arranged to come down here for that purpose. Around that time, she also managed to get some kind of stress fracture in her foot, so she basically told me to GO FUCK MYSELF because I AM NOT GOING TO HELP MOVING CUZZA MY FOOT! Also, her birthday was coming up, and no one has to do anything on their birthday.

One of those days, I took the Wolf in to my former office to show him off and hang out. It was fun to see all of my co-workers in a good mood and let someone else hold the baby for a change, but it also reminded me why I was so happy that I was leaving... some of the more neurotic elements made my memory concrete when they were telling me that I was not feeding the kid right (he could get an ear infection from feeding!), that I don't use enough hand sanitizer (these doorknobs are carrying the plague!), he's not eating enough (breastmilk is too watery, you should give him formula!) and that I wasn't covering him up enough (he'll freeze to death in the 89F weather!). So yeah, um, fuck off. Me and my neanderthal baby will move to Maryland and hunt deer with our bare hands.

Then let's blur forward to Friday the 4th. Carly and I went to pick up the moving truck at the Penske dealer in Kearny. The whole process was great, and I take the truck back to JC. When I get there, Carly has to go get her foot looked at by a professional, so I hang out with the baby. When she returns, I start loading the truck by myself (see above), and all of the people we asked for help ended up being busy. To their credit, we didn't really ask anyone to commit, it was more of a "if you're available, do you want to help?" sort of deal. I can't complain about my friends--I'd never really force anyone to help me move boxes. Anyhow, I loaded about 80% of the truck by myself, and a few friends came over to help with the heavy things.

Once the truck was packed to the gills it was pretty obvious that I would not have enough room for all of our crap. Many of the things left in the apartment were considered essential, but were not the sorts of things that fit in boxes easily. Things like guitars, rugs, lamps, etc. And there was a lot of it. How were we going to sort this one out?

I quickly determined that I would not go back and get a larger truck. The last thing I wanted to do was unpack and re-pack my perfectly packed truck. I did have unlimited miles on the thing, though, so I decided I'd just drive back up to JC after we unloaded everything, and then do it all over again. To facilitate this, I hired some dudes to help unload the truck in Maryland, and as soon as it was done, Sokin and I headed back to JC.

While all of this was going on, Carly was driving down in the car with Wolf, Bear, and Sophie. Their experience was quite pleasant.

Our mover guys were quite a pair. There was a guy who could not have been much over 18 (probably a recent high school graduate) who had a great work ethic, but also had a busted rib. He didn't seem to mind. When I was 18, I probably would not have been slowed down by a busted rib. The other guy, arguably the one in charge because he was perhaps 22, was the one I fondly call "Mezztooth." The meth teeth on that slacker were astounding. I didn't think you could do that much damage to your teeth in 22 years. Anyway, they were a great help and I know now that I will never move my own shit again. I will hire Mezztooth and Broken Rib.

The drive to JC and back was a bit of a blur. It took us as long to load the truck the second time with two people as it did for me to do the first load alone. We didn't leave JC until after midnight, and I didn't get to bed until 5AM on Sunday. I think I'm still recovering.

We got some local day laborers to help with the final move, as Sokin and I were just exhausted and could barely walk. When we were all done, we treated ourselves to some Five Guys Burgers and Fries and then everyone went back to the apartment to hibernate.

Other things I've forgotten about:
1. When Sokin and I did the first move several weeks ago, I forgot to eat for most of the day. I only consumed some coffee, a cup of yogurt, a cookie, and a bottle of Coke. We fixed that the second run, and had sandwiches and lots of chips.
2. Carly was not totally useless. She took care of the kid pretty much the whole time I was doing the moving. Taking care of the baby is very important and I don't think I'd be doing the move if we didn't have him. Also, he's been great.
3. I feel a little bit bad about not having a proper going-away party. I think that's because I plan to go back to visit soon. The drive or train ride to NYC from here is not so bad.