Over the course of many moves during my lifetime, I’ve learned each one comes with at least one challenge. I was hoping to avoid any challenges in moving from an apartment in Plover my family and I have lived in for the last three years to a new house we built in Stevens Point. I should have known better.
Things went well at first, as one advantage into moving into an unoccupied home is you don’t have to wait until the previous tenants get out, which meant we were able to move items over to the house over the course of more than a month, easing the burden we had to bear for the big moving day on Thursday, June 9. And with the help of some friends, we were able to clear out our garage and a storage unit in May.
Moving day seemed to go well, too. It was just my wife, Jenny, and me, and a truck and trailer lent to us by our friends. We emptied out nearly all the big items in our apartment and had it unloaded in our house by 11 a.m. We figured the remaining stuff would go over in the next load.
Almost all of it did, starting with our washer and dryer. While Jenny was able to help me carry out and unload all other big items, the washer and dryer were too heavy. So we did so in short bursts in which we lifted it one or two inches off the ground and as far as possible. Going down stairs, we relied mainly on gravity as we banged down from one step to the next.
After unloading them in the garage, we left them there until a friend could help me carry them in. Although I’m not mechanically inclined, I was able to figure out how to hook them up, much to my delight.
It wasn’t until we used the washer that we discovered all was not well. A crack in the bottom of the washer – one that probably occurred during the move – caused water to spill out onto the floor, as well as my heart in hope of completing a perfect move.
The washer was eight years old, so I wasn’t completely upset we had broken it. We knew the lifespan on these things didn’t exceed much longer. I was more upset about going through the hassle of moving it, only to have it mean nothing. It’s worse than writing an article, not saving it and having the power go out as you are about to complete it. Any journalist who says this has never happened to him or her probably isn’t telling the truth.
We bought a new washer later that day, much to Jenny’s pleasure since it was a front-loader she’s always wanted. I was satisfied knowing she didn’t need a matching dryer.
The other challenge occurred both before and after the move: finding, and then installing, a mailbox.
As long as I’ve been living on my own, I’ve never owned a mailbox. It’s always been apartment mailboxes or post office boxes.
For months, we shopped for a mailbox. We liked some of them, but couldn’t fathom spending $80 or more just for the box. For that price, it should pay the bills it’s mainly used for.
After moving and knowing we needed to install one soon, we decided to go with a less expensive one, even if it didn’t have the look we wanted.
Installing it over the weekend had its own challenge: bedrock. We live in a rocky area, and the first hole I started to dig ended when I encountered a large rock halfway down. Not wanting to bother with the hassle of digging around it, I started over. Although I didn’t encounter any big rocks, I met enough smaller ones that the process took a lot longer and was much messier than I anticipated.
In the larger picture, those challenges weren’t horrible. But we’re not done, yet. We still have pictures to hang on the walls. That’s never fun.
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Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, June 17, 2011.
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