Packing to move...

Sunday, September 5, 2010

I knew there was little chance for a workout today. We would be going to Columbus tomorrow to bring Savannah’s stuff down to her new home for the coming school year and today was packing day. I had to try and figure a way of getting all her gear into the mini-van and the back of the jeep. Since that stuff included a mattress and box springs, the inside of the van would be pretty much full with that alone. I was determined to get it on the roof in such a way that it wouldn’t get wet or blow away…with blowing away being my bigger concern.

The jeep is lower and so I tried putting the bed on its roof. Reza had stopped over to tell me about his 6K cross country victory, which he’d run as an unattached collegiate. He has a simple mind and I don’t mind abusing him, so I put him to work helping me bring down the bed and load it on the roof. We attempted to wrap it in a large, blue tarp I use for camping and it was more than big enough. I attached it to the roof with my kayak straps and we took it out on the freeway for a test run.

“Reza…your side is flapping like hell,” I said once we hit about 60mph.

“Why do you think its my side?” he asked.

“You don’t think I did something wrong, do you?” It was simple process of elimination. We got back and went about tying more string around the tarp and again headed for the road. Reza was so sure it would not flap that he bet a dollar on the outcome. It was flapping by the second mile, though he was unwilling to concede the point and since I still needed his help moving stuff, I gave him 55 cents and some more lemonade/iced tea to shut him up. He’s cheap and likes sugar.

Holly’s folks were due for dinner in a couple of minutes…so I gave up on the tarp and told her I was going to drive down without it. She thought I was nuts, but approached me subtly since I was already upset at having spent a couple of hours unsuccessfully wrapping the bed.

“Are you stupid or something? Look at the bugs splattered all over the front of the car…they’ll be all over the bed if you don’t cover it,” she said.

“Those are old bugs. It’s too cold right now for bugs and even if we smash a few on the bed…so what? I’m not sleeping on it and have you seen Savannah’s room? Do you really think she’d notice?” But I was wrong and I was stupid and I needed to wrap the damned thing up so it didn’t flap in the wind. I was in the process of pulling it from the roof with the in-laws showed up and my father-in-law came to my rescue. He has a calming effect on me…nothing seems to rattle him…and with his help, we essentially turned it into a giant Christmas present wrapped in blue tarp and sealed with duct tape. We strapped it to the roof and went in for dinner.

It was spaghetti and garlic bread and I only had one helping (but 5 pieces of bread) and that would have been okay, but Holly had gone and made apple and peach cobbler. Plus we had the ice cream from yesterday. I tried both cobblers…ala mode.

So…no workout and bad eating…again. Like I said yesterday…I need to run, but the hip still hurts. I’m trying for patience, but it is a virtue that passed me by.