Loaded Up and Gone South

We have made it this far. Sunday I spent going through boxes and boxes of books that we have gathered over 30-some years in parish ministry. It was somewhere around 30-35 boxes of ministry and church related books. Yes, 30. I would guess that this was well around half a ton of books! They sure brought back loads of memories. Many reminded me of situations and places and people. Twenty-seven of the boxes have now been donated to Books for Africa. We are both excited that these books will now be in the hands of people who are hungry to read!
Then I went up the hill to my home away from home- the local Caribou Coffee Shop that I used as a place to sit and work and read most Saturday and Sunday evenings for the past three years. None of the regular workers were there for me to say good-bye to.

Then yesterday the movers came to pack us. What an experience. It was like this tornado of packers and boxes and packing paper running through the house. Meanwhile we were finishing packing some stuff, moving other stuff aside so it didn't get packed and moved, trying to stay out of the way. They really were something to watch. Next we double-checked and got a special trash pickup for this:


Makes you wonder why you hang on to stuff for so long when in the end it just gets thrown away. When I paused to think about all the money we spent on stuff and books, well, it is beyond comprehension so I just stopped thinking about it.


I did manage to get away to take the books in the car to Books for Africa:


By the time I got back the crew was quitting. They had the truck half loaded and just about everything off the main floor of the house. They planned a quick finish of loading on Tuesday and then heading south and unloading before the end of the day.

Fortunately Sunday and Monday were remarkably beautiful warm (Minnesota November-type warm) and sunny. It made that part of it a lot easier.

The movers arrived today at 8 with the temperature now dropped to 3 degrees (F). Brrrr. They managed to get out of the house by 10:30 and headed south with Val just ahead of them. I stayed behind to have lunch with a friend and to do some cleaning. About 11:45 I went to leave, reached to my belt loop for my caribiner and keys....

and they were gone.

I searched everywhere. Up, down, around, etc. The last time I had them was about an hour and a quarter earlier when I moved the car to the driveway. I walked through the yard, out into the street. Nowhere. Val didn't have an extra set- and she needed to be at the apartment a hundred miles away for the rest of the afternoon.

Then I noticed a key that we hadn't known which car it was to. Why not? I said to myself. We had been ready to toss it but for some reason (?) had left it sit on the kitchen counter. It worked. It was the extra, extra key.

I eventually got to our new home and we were both exhausted. We are at a motel tonight, all our belongings are in the apartment. We are not sure there's room for us. Wow! What a lot of boxes. Maybe I can get some pictures tomorrow before the unpacking begins.

But for tonight- that's all!! We have made it. There's work ahead, to be sure, but we are here. Hopefully we will find my keys in one of the cars on the floor or dropped into a box at the last minute after the movers left.

But that is for another day. And we don't plan on waking up early tomorrow. There will be plenty of time for that when I start back to work next week.