Friday, March 27, 2009

Movin' & Groovin'


There's lots of moving going on all over Shelter Island and in many of the resort/vacation areas across the US. This always happens around this time of year - the snowbirds are starting to mentally plan their move to Florida, Arizona and places all along the Southern Sun Belt. I think nearly a third of our Island residents spend the cold months in Florida. I identify them by the pink flamingos they usually have, on key chains, tee shirts, sunglasses and flip flops.

But it seems that no matter how well you plot, plan and pray, moves never go smoothly. It seems like no matter how hard you try, the most important little things keep escaping you. I have a little zipper pocket in my purse for tiny important things, and when I put tiny important things in there, they still disappear. I think they slip through that tiny fracture in the space-time continuum where socks and earrings go. Somewhere in a parallel universe there is a woman who looks just like me, except her eyebrows are perfect because she has my best tweezers.

Then there is the great debate: professional movers or U-Haul. I've used professional movers three times, and each experience was excellent, all in all. I sat back and they systematically cleared each room to the walls.

We choose U-Haul only when we can't afford the pros or need to control everything because we don't trust professionals. No matter how I try to organize everything, I still end up with "surprise boxes."

"Well, what's in that box? See if the coffee pot is in there."

"No coffee pot. Socks, Gone With the Wind DVD, picture of the Dalai Lama and a bottle of aspirin."

"Okay, try that box over there."

"Alright! My old matchbox collection! I haven't seen this in three moves! Where did you have it?"

"I dunno. I haven't seen it in three moves, either. I didn't know we still had it. I thought I left it in the goodie pile the last time we were here."

"Well, honey, the moving gods returned it to me. Maybe they'll give back the Roy Rogers tea set you've had since you were five.

"What about the coffee pot?"

"We'll buy a new one. It's the only way to make sure the first one will come back to us."

"That's true. If you lose something, the fastest way to find it is to buy a replacement, wait 24 hours, and then the original item shows up. It never fails."

"Can we have Mayflower movers next time?"

"No, they cost too much. Plus all your stuff gets mixed up and it takes months to find things."

"As opposed to the system we're using now?"

"Organized chaos. It's a mess, but at least we only have each other to blame."

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