Packing Out

I do have photos for this post, but they’re stuck on that old memory card. I’ll update when I can figure out how to get those pictures!

The movers arrived bright and early on a Tuesday morning. The early of “bright and early” seemed even more so, since we’d been up late the night before, trying to finish everything. We had managed to pack our suitcases and stash them, along with our other necessities, in the “do not pack” section we’d made on the lanai. Despite our best attempts to pack lightly, we had four full suitcases, two carseats, and one stroller. It’s just amazing how much one “needs” for six weeks or so!

We’d spent a lot of time (over the weekend and on Monday) talking about moving, trying to ease our little girls into the big changes. Kathleen knew that movers were coming to put our things in boxes so that everything could go to “Calibornia,” where Kathleen would live in a “new house” and see her Nan. Kathleen knew that she’d get to go to the air-po-port and fly to Calibornia, which was particularly exciting. Concerned at first that the men would take away our suitcases (you need suitcases to go on an air-po-plane, you see), Kathleen seemed generally peaceful about the plans.

When the movers arrived, Kathleen was fascinated by their big, big truck and all the cardboard boxes. Madeline was equally interested in the movers and all their work. She seemed to make every effort to toddle into their paths!

We shared a picnic breakfast of omlette and banana pancakes (take-out, obviously!) on the lanai before Daddy left to ship the car, and our dear, dear friend Amy whisked both girls away for some non-chaotic outdoor fun with her daughter Grace. Mama stayed at home, doing last minute laundry, cleaning, and organizing. When Amy returned with the girls, we were all out on the lanai talking for a bit before we realized we didn’t know where Kathleen had gone. She turned up in her own bedroom, curled up in her toddler bed, quietly watching a mover pack up all her things. My heart broke to see her there, but she wasn’t upset -- just curious.

We were blessed with movers who seemed hard-working and conscientious. (I have to say “seemed” because you just don’t know whether your movers were actually any good until you get to the other end. Did your things survive? Then you had good movers!) They packed and packed, filling four crates the first day! They left us our beds and cribs intact that night so we’d have somewhere to sleep. Our friends Amy and John generously invited us to dinner. We enjoyed great food and company. Kathleen will so miss Luke and Grace. Anyway, after a lovely evening, all we did in our mostly empty house that night was sleep!

The movers returned the next day to finish the big move. And if the final day of packing out wasn’t crazy enough, that same day was tree-trimming day in our neighborhood. While the movers worked away, the landscaping crews had cherry-pickers in the front and the back of our house. They trimmed up all the trees and ripped out every single elephant ear in front of the house. Wow!

By afternoon the movers had finished up and our house was empty. Fortunately for us, clearing quarters on Schofield is not the ordeal it can be elsewhere. (Oh, and for our non-military friends, clearing quarters is when you “give back” your house.) Unlike Fort Knox, where we paid a ridiculous amount of money to have the house cleaned (the only way to successfully clear quarters, despite the fact that we'd only lived in the house for 8 months), in Hawaii we were able to clear quarters ourselves. All that was required: clean appliances, swept floors, and no trash on the premises. Easy-peasy!

We’d cleared quarters and returned the keys when I realized my cell phone was missing. We remembered that it had been on the kitchen counter but Daddy and the housing representative were certain that it hadn’t been there when they cleared. (The girls and I had stayed outside, playing with the neighbor children.) Knowing that, I assumed that it must be with us. While Daddy finished some paperwork at another office, I searched the car and backpacks to no avail. Eventually we concluded that it must be in the house, after all. Fortunately, at the same time I realized that we’d forgotten to return one key, so we broke into our own vacant house. Daddy rang the phone and we discovered it in a drawer in the kitchen. Phew! We think that one of our little helpers must have “put it away” while we were hurriedly sweeping and toting trash. Having reclaimed the phone, we were finally able to drive away – we were officially not only packed out, but cleared!