In the Beginning

Well, some of you already know the whole story. And some of you have found out not too long ago that we are suddenly 3000 miles away. So, with that in mind, let's start this story at it's beginning - how rational! Believe it or not, I had finished grad school (believe it) and took a postdoc position at the Venter Institute... or is it The Center for the Advancement of Genomics (TCAG)? Anyway, I got a job, and that job was in San Diego. We had been living a fairy tale life in Newark with our friends, Kristen and Michael, and in spite of all the good things this move promised, everyone was avoiding the inevitable fact that one day we would be gone.

That day came on January 3rd, when the truck we had hired through Movex arrived to tranport all of our stuff to the west coast... we didn't even have a send-to address! So we arranged for a public storage locker on the outskirts of San Diego and made that the destination address. Our driver, Larry, was punctual, arriving 15 minutes ahead of his 8:00 am estimate - but that was fine with us. He was a cheerful guy, probably in his late fifties/early sixties, with a heavy Maine accent. Although his hair was now white, he knew we were going to get along just fine after he saw Beth's red hair - he had been a redhead (even went by the CB handle of "redbeard") in his youth. And he liked tea, which we had offered, unaware of this fact.

After making our introductions, we get down to business: how much stuff? In the process of making the estimation, I mention I also have a motorcycle, but had arranged for transport through a separate shipper. "WHY?" demands Larry. Well, I wasn't sure about how wide or steep the ramp would be, if I had to disconnect the battery, if I could push the dead bike up the ramp, blah, blah, wah, blah. "You don't have to worry about any of that stuff," says Larry. "And, you can fit it right heah on this truck with everahthing else!" Well, it was going to cost about $700 to ship the bike separately - but only $50 to cancel the order and put in on this heah truck. I quickly decided to go for it - right as Mike and Eva pulled up to help us load! So, I caught a quick ride back to Mom & Dad's with Mike, brought the bike over, and loaded it into the truck - no problem! Then we start loading in earnest, with Mike as foreman of the operation. As I am making circuit after circuit, carrying boxes to the truck and returning to the house, I catch fragments of stories swapped between Mike and Larry as Mike slots each parcel into its precise location.

All of our stuff fits in SEVEN linear feet of space in the trailer. IN YOUR FACES, Chris and Shellie!

In the meantime, we had visits from Dolores K., who brought us some homemade snack mix (we ate most of it before we even got on the road) and a shiny necklace that Ginny had made for Pie Girl. Michele and Andrew came and stayed for a while, providing some much-needed stability during our moving day. Mom, The Commander, and Logan came for a little while to see the big moving truck (well, mostly Logan wanted to see the truck) and wish us well. About two and a half hours later, Larry was pulling away from the curb with our possessions lashed securely in the trailer.

Yep... you'll never see that stuff again.

Then, Mike and Eva said their good-byes and were on their way. Mom and the Commander said their difficult goodbyes and headed home.

Kristen had arisen before us and arrived at school before anyone else so that she could drop off her sub plans. Now, she went off to run some errands. I made a trip to the University to say a few goodbyes and pick up some paperwork. I got back just in time to say goodbye to Shell and Marmee (who had stopped by during her lunch break). They had Bobbies from Capriotti's for lunch, and I was glad to gulp down the leftovers. We were also pleased to find out that there is a Capriotti's in San Diego! In the meantime, we had ordered a new car GPS unit to help us on our trip, and it hadn't arrived yet! So, we had a little time to relax while we waited for the deep growl of the UPS truck. It arrived around 3:00, and I quickly begain downloading map sets onto the storage card. It was taking forever to load the maps from the included CD onto the GPS unit, though, and after a while we decided to do this later. If we were going to leave today, we had better do it now. The car was all loaded up and ready to go. We got Harry settled in his new travel accomodations - he wasn't quite sure what was going on.

I'm not sure about this... does it have HBO?

Then it was time for one final goodbye: Kristen. We had already said our goodbyes to Michael a few days ago, before he left for his weekly commute to work. And THAT good-bye was made a lot easier by the fact that we weren't about to get into a car and drive several thousand miles immediately after saying it. But with Kristen... well, it was hard. After a lot of blubbering and tears, we managed to get out the door. We pulled out of the driveway, and headed toward I-95 South. For a while, we drove on in silence, our thoughts to ourselves. I was thinking about all of the turmoil this move was causing, particularly for Pie Girl. "Do you think we're doing the right thing?" I asked. "Too late now," she replied, and managed a smile. But that was about as close to "Yes" as we could get on moving day.

NEXT EPISODE: THE FIRST NIGHT!