Move: phase one

In June, I wrote about the movers I decided not to hire. Since then and now, I've been a little bit nervous about my choice as it took weeks for them to get the actual contracts to me. I was afraid no one would show up when it was time to go. BUT! despite my fears, last week, the movers I did hire came and moved all our stuff out. We spent about a month preparing and packing, pacing ourselves due to the infant factor:

Somehow, miraculously we were ready when they arrived. We'd even started cleaning the apartment a bit. This was a great contrast to our move last year when we were still packing at 2am the day before we were supposed to leave, and had to leave the apartment almost entirely unclean and several items of furniture in the dumpster. That was a stressful day. This moving day was 100% different. I would even say it was a bit boring.

These guys really knew what they were doing. They were professional, efficient, and friendly (but not TOO friendly). Two of the guys were parents and were talking about being dads, cute things about their kids, how to celebrate birthdays - it was precious. One guys' daughter has my middle name and he was excited to make that little connection. They all gushed over Sofia. But how can you blame them? They went on and on about how well behaved she was, which helped ease our stress.

One of my favorite parts about the guys was how uplifting they were to one another. It's one of those elements of professionality that too many people seem to forget these days. Instead of showing off to each other, being independent or grumpy, these guys were constantly teaching each other tricks about how to pack or lift things most safely and effectively. It made me feel reassured that they were all being really thoughtful about their process, and that there were at least half of them who had a very great knowledge about how to do things right. It is also encouraging to see people uplift one another.

Last year, packing up less stuff took from about 8am until 2am. These guys knocked out our apartment in less than three hours, including taking a break. It was unbelievable to see what professionals can do!

Of course my big question was going to be how they would handle our mattress situation, which I spoke of in my last post about movers. After hearing multiple other movers freak out over this problem, I watched in awe (so much so I had to record it the second time around) as they took care of our mattresses in 34 seconds. Fantastic.

I felt strange tipping them and saying goodbye because I couldn't believe they did it all so fast. We had the whole afternoon free to grab lunch, recuperate, and get the apartment cleaned and keys turned in days ahead of schedule. So far, these movers get an A from me. But the job is not complete, I'll have to wrap up the full report when our stuff arrives at its destination. 

In the mean time, I have not a single key on my key chain. I have no office key. I have no car key. I have no house key. We stand in limbo, waiting for all our earthly belongings to travel across the country to our new home and our new life. I am placeless, and at the mercy of others to let me through their locks. I just have my man, and my baby girl to love while we levitate in placelessness. Not the worst arrangement, don't you think?