Logistically this move took a little thinking. My husband was in Michigan already with one car, the kids and I were in Evanston with another, and we needed a big truck. Josh to the rescue! My brother is a master at manual labor and is particularly skilled in two areas: packing and hauling. He works in dog-like fashion, always eagerly, thoroughly, carefully, and happily. He puts his head down, sets his jaw, demands silence, and digs in. It’s almost scary to watch him in action, but when he’s done, throw him a big meal and he’s all yours again, sweet as a rose. I wouldn’t recommend patting him on the head, though. So when my husband and I concocted a plan to move, it included Josh, who lives about halfway between Evanston and Royal Oak in the fine city of Grand Rapids.
The scheme was that I would arrange for the biggest U-Haul in Grand Rapids one could rent without a trucker’s license, Josh would drive it to Dempster Street after work, load the truck the next morning before we would caravan to his house in Grand Rapids where my husband would get a ride to meet us, then my husband would drive the U-Haul the rest of the way to Royal Oak with me still caravanning behind. We needed some burly helpers, too, because after all, we had all this great old furniture. So I float this plan to Josh along with the request to bring a couple of high school kids he knew, and I get, “Ok Mar.” One doesn’t get much from Josh verbally, so the “Ok Mar” translation was, “Of course! I’d be happy to help you move, and get you there safely, and be very careful with your children and antiques, and rejoice in your new home and lifestyle change!” Good ol’ Josh.
So Josh and two strapping lads arrived in this ginormous U-Haul way after dark on the planned day, and I just expected to keep them fed and warm until morning. I was wrong. In his military fashion, Josh had the whole truck packed that night, or rather by the wee hours of the next morning. They would have made great burglars because of how quickly and quietly they emptied the flat. They even emptied the kids’ bedrooms while they were sleeping! You can imagine the panic when Jims and Sis woke up the next morning to find the whole flat except for their beds totally empty! Of course, before the kids could even gulp their oatmeal down, Josh had their beds disassembled and loaded on the truck, too. So off we went without time to muse over it.
By lunchtime we arrived at Josh’s house and met my husband and his father who had driven him to GR. There we picked up more furniture which had somehow found its way to my brother’s after Winnie died and Bill downsized. (Come to think of it, I think another U-Haul was involved…) Among other keepsakes, I was the lucky recipient of Winnie’s dining room set. It is crafted of gorgeous, rich mahogany and my guess is that it was made in the 1930s. The heavy buffet, sourced separately by Winnie, has seen as many Christmas smorgasbords on its top, and heavy silver, fine china and candles within than any in Gamelstan as has the large expanding table with five graceful chairs and my grandpa’s matching captain’s chair. Every time I look at it, I see my grandmother rubbing a smudge off the surface or my grandpa in his chair enjoying his pipe after a big meal. (Sometimes, like now, when I’m sitting at the table I can even smell the Captain Black.) Winnie was very proud of her things and took good care of them. She loved this dining room set. It was a wonderful gift to me from my grandfather, and I was tickled to be able to use it in my new house.
Carefully all this was loaded onto Josh’s artistically packed truck. With a hug and an “Ok Mar,” which I knew meant more, we left Josh and drove to yet another new home, this time on Girard Avenue in Royal Oak.
No comments:
Post a Comment