Oh the stress of moving!

This last week has been very stressful.  We are in our final night here in a hotel in Rock Hill SC.  We will finish unpacking what’s left of our move tomorrow.   We started our journey when I got back from working in Miami on the 18^th.   We had a huge garage sale on the weekend of the the 20^th and 21^st.  I was shocked we made $980 between the two days.  However I was bummed that we did not get our refrigerator sold and the ping pong table though.  On Tuesday Brenna and I went up to Rock Hill to get the keys for the new house and try to get the utilities set up.  But we got a late start so we didn't get everything set up and to top it off the house was not cleaned like the landlord had promised.   We went up the following day and got all the utilities set up and spent 6 hours cleaning the house.  We got back home at 1am, we were so beat.   The 25^th we picked up a 20’ U-Haul truck and I so thought that it would be too big.  I was so wrong, we packed it full!   Oh my we have accumulated a lot of things sense we have move in to that house.  On Friday we got everything packed and cleaned the house up.  We wanted to leave the house cleaner then when we rented it.   Up until this point we were extremely stressed out, and this is when the stress went over the top though.  We have had one of our cats that has been a bit sick lately so I thought that I should take there to the vet to see what was going on with her before the trip to our new home.  They did all kinds of test and determined that she had a mass on here intestinal area.   They were not sure if she would make it through a surgery or if they could even do surgery on her and what quality of life she would have even.  Tina and I had to make such a hard decision on what we should do for her.  Oh we so struggled with what was the right decision.  We decided to have her put to sleep. We didn't want her to face any future needless pain and suffering. It was the hardest thing Tina and I have had to do; she was such a great part of our family.  She has brought our family so much joy and love.  Tina and I were so glad that we could be with her as she passed though.  I am also thankful that the staff was so kind to us in that hard time for us. 

After that hard time we did last touched of cleaning of the house and left for Rock Hill.  That was one of the hardest drives that I have had to do,  all the emotions of leaving the town that we have been in for 6 years.   There has been so many good memories there, and with the the passing of our cat added it made it a very emotional drive and lots of crying.

Unloading the truck was so much easier; I back the truck up to the front door and put the ramp from the truck onto the front porch.  I was able to bypass the steps into the house and made it a lot easier.  In a post before I talked about how I used some skills from my past male life.  Here is were it came in handy again.  I worked for a rent to own store and got pretty handy with a appliance dolly and moving appliances and furniture.  I was able to show Brenna how to move all the big things with a dolly.  She was amazed. 

We will be spending the night tomorrow for the 1^st time in the house.  We have been so blessed that I have had a lot of hotel points.  I have used them to stay in both Charleston and Rock Hill.  It has made it a lot easier to not stress on getting things packed and unpacked. 

This move have been very physically challenging for me, I think I am getting too old to be moving all this heavy stuff around.  The mental side of it has hit both Tina and I really hard.  As we are getting settled things are starting to unwind finally.  We have always grown in many ways when we have moved so I am looking forward to see what new ways we will grow as a family and individually as well.

A long few days. (Past experiences come to my rescue)

This weekend was a whirlwind of craziness.   It all started out Thursday I worked a shift at the JFK airport from 4pm to 4am.   I got off work and packed the car and drove 12 hours to get home for Tina’s birthday. I surprised Tina for here birthday,  she didn't think i would be home once again.  It was great to see her and the girls event though it was just for the night. I got up the next day on Saturday and got 2 new tires on the car because I got a flat on the way home of Friday L.  At around 2 pm I finally was able to get on the road to drive to Miami.  It took be just a bit over 8 hours, then I worked all-night and got off around 830 am.    So to sum it up I drove 1300 miles in a few days, and I had 2 days that I was up about 30 hours at a time. 

I had 2 instances over the weekend that really made me thankful for my past experiences in my so called past life.   I think that I am blessed to have them and most women would never have the chance to have them so in a lots of ways I feel very lucky.

On my way home Friday I had just passed into North Carolina coming from the JFK airport.  I was driving along and all of a sudden I get the dash lighting up that I have a flat tire.   I pulled off at the exit that was coming up and pulled into a gas station figuring that I my need air in a tire.   I got out and my left front tire was leaking air pretty good and had a bulge in the side wall.  My 1st thought was what a way to add to my already long day being up for 24 hours already.  So I go inside and the gas station and get a nice cold Pepsi and  use the restroom.   I come out to the now flat tire.   Here is where my past experience comes to my rescue.  Back in the day as I call it I used to work for my Uncle in a tire and wire rope shop.  A flat tire really doesn't intimidate me in anyway.  I get down to business; pull the spare tire out of the trunk and all the implements that are packaged nice and neatly with the spare tire.  I notice that there are 2 older gentlemen sitting on the curb outside of convenience store watching me,  as I am getting ready to jack up the car they come over and ask nicely if I need help. From what I can see on there faces its is  mostly because I am woman and for sure can’t change a tire.  I politely say oh no thanks I can get it, they walk away and sit down to watch just knowing that I have no idea what I'm doing.  In about 10 minutes I have the spare on and everything packed away, and I didn't even get my shirt dirty.  They were in shock J  I just look at them and smile and get back to my trip home.   I am thankful that my VW had a full size spare being I had 320 miles left to drive home. 

My Second experience happened when I got down here in Miami.  I have been sent down to help our other Loadmaster Camille out.   I got in really late around midnight Saturday and checked into the hotel and headed out to the airport to watch the operation.  I am really just counting on observing the operation and learning how they do things.  When I got to the airport I was met by Camille who was very panicked because the plane was do in around 5am and the cargo build crew was short handed by about 4 people and had only build 6 out of 18 pallets needed for the flight.  At the rate they were going there was no way they would get it done even by departure time.   Once again here is were my previous past life came to the rescue.   About 8 years ago before transitioning I ran a warehouse that built and broke down freight for a cargo airline.   I have a vast amount of experience in that area, and again you would never expect a woman to have that.   I went to the lead of the crew and asked if he would like help, he was very stressed out and agreed to let me help.  I could see in his and his small crews eyes that they was very apprehensive.   I figured that my efforts would be best used by running the forklift and building up pallets.  Needless to say they were shocked that a woman could run forklift much less build freight like I could.  I build faster than one of their seasoned workers was even though I was well out of practice.   After a few hours we got everything all built in time for the flight.  I ended up building 1/2 of the freight for that flight.   Once again I am so thankful for my previous experiences in life.

After a few long days now I can rest and relax and start to explore Miami a little bit.

  

Time for a new suitcase.

I have been thinking a lot about how I hold on to hurt and disappointment that has happened in my life.  I think of myself as predominately a positive person.   However I seem to have some baggage or hurt that I hold on too for too long.    For me I seem to categorize the hurt into two types, family and friends and acquaintances in life.

What I have found true for me is that I seem to put more weight to the family hurt.   I think what is worse is for some reason I seem to hold onto the hurt baggage longer as well.    

Because I work in the aviation industry my mind thinks about bags in a probably different way than most people.  I have done my fair share of loading suitcases in my life.   When I travel currently I have a huge big suitcase,  I love how much it holds.  It is able hold enough cloths for about a 18 day trip without having to do any laundry.  When it is fully packed this thing is so heavy, but it has a handle and wheels to pull it and it is manageable though.

In life my suitcase to hold my life’s hurts is also similar and I sure can pack lots of hurt and disappointment in it.  Like my real life suitcase it is not divided, I just stuff and stuff things in until the zipper barely closes it.  There is no order to it so if I need to find something everything is going to be pulled out.

My point to this analogy is about a year ago I was flying home and claimed my bag in JFK I noticed that one wheel had been broken was not working well.   I needed to walk about 5 blocks to our office to get to my car to head home after a long trip.  About half way to the office the wheel finally completely fell off.  So I had to carry it by the handle a few blocks.  It was not bad because it was really light and I didn't really think anything of it.   So for a year I have been using this suitcase and I works well,  I do most of my travel in a car so I don’t need the wheels to work on it, until my one of my last trips.    I was on the west coast for about 3 weeks and then on the east coast for a while.   So you can imagine I packed that suitcase until it was over bulging!  So much so that I would not fit in the trunk of the Camaro that I was driving in Seattle.  I had to put it in the front seat.  I really didn't think much about it leaving at first because the plan was to ride our own planes so it wouldn't be a issue with weight and we are always brought out to the planes so I would not have to carry it far.  On the way home the plan changed I ended up having to fly a commercial airline back to JFK to where my car was.  When I got to pick up my suitcase at the baggage carousel all I could think of was how far I was going to have to carry this heavy bag and my way heavy backpack that I used for a carry on.  I am pretty strong person but I was really not looking forward carrying it.    I struggled with the bag to get it on the air train and off to the Federal Circle.   My only hope was that there would be someone in our Operations Dept. could come give me a ride.  However it was midnight though and the likelihood was not in my favor.  I was so ever thankful when I made the call and Pleasant answered the phone and was able to come get me.  I was lucky this time but may not be the next time, so I am in a hunt for a new suitcase.

Like my real life suitcase my  suitcase for my baggage needs to be upgraded as well.   My old suitcase has gone through my life and done well for me, but it is worn out.  I also want to down size it to a manageable size, this means I need to go back through my life’s hurts and start discarding to fit my new suitcase.  It is scary for me to go through all of the old hurts but I have been carrying around way too much for way too long .   How is your suitcase?  Is it overfull like mine?