My apartment lease at Tree Corners Apartments ended July 31, 2011, and I decided not to renew it. I knew that my stay in the apartment was a temporary one . . . it was a place to live while Hadrian finished her senior year at Grayson High School. But, my nest was officially "empty" when Hadrian went to college, so there was nothing really holding me to Gwinnett County anymore.
SO, everything that I own had to be moved somewhere. And, I had no idea where somewhere was going to be! I had been praying about this since my divorce was final . . . just over a year ago. Where, dear Lord, should I go from here?? I knew that the day I got out of my apartment, I would officially be homeless. But, I had no idea where I wanted to move yet.
Even though I didn't know where to go, I did have to come up with some kind of a plan for my stuff . . right or wrong . . . but a plan none the less. And, there were three phases to this plan. I had a storage unit that I planned to move out of by the end of June (Phase 1), I had to be out of my actual apartment by the end of July (Phase 2), and I was renting a garage (used for storage) at the apartment complex. They were willing to be flexible with the garage and allow me to move out of it as soon as I could during the month of August (Phase 3). So, this was the timeline I was working with.
I decided to sell as much stuff as possible. The household stuff that I decided to keep, I decided to put in storage in Warner Robins. All of my more special and personal items such as pictures, oil paintings, scrapbooks, papers, and such, I decided to move to the best storage facility of all . . . Mom's House . . . in Blairsville. Mom graciously allowed me to take over a bedroom and use it for storage. And, I packed three suitcases with clothes . . . one with tops, one with bottoms, and one with shoes. Along with my regular travel bag, the suitcases were going to stay with me in my van at all times. The rest of my clothes went to a closet in the spare bedroom at Haley's house. Whew! What a mess! I literally had stuff going all over the state . . . north and south and in between. But, this was the plan.
I moved everything out of the storage unit first. YES! Met that deadline! Phase One done! Now, it was time to move on to the apartment (Phase Two).
Anyone that knows me knows how I feel about moving . . . I think it is the closest thing to torture that a human being can possibly go through. And, this was the third July . . . in a row . . . that I had to move my entire house . . . my entire accumulation of possessions. And, believe me, I still had a lot of possessions, even after dwindling down with each of the two moves before. With that said, I cannot describe how much fun my July was! And, on top of this, Hannah had just moved out of her "home" during the month of June, and we had her stuff to deal with while she was trying to figure out where to live.
But, it was time to get moving! I was loading my van . . . to the gills . . . and alternating trips to Warner Robins and Blairsville . . . to drop off stuff . . . one van load at a time. Austin drove his truck up, and he and Haley took another truck load of stuff to storage. Haley also drove up a few times and hauled car loads of stuff back with her. Haley also helped me sell a lot of my stuff. Facebook was great for that! And, we have had two very profitable yard sales at her house in Warner Robins!
For the heaviest stuff, I rented a truck, we got it loaded, and Austin, Haley, and Eric Ati drove this truck down to Warner Robins, and unloaded the entire truckload of stuff into my storage unit. One truckload down. But, these three kids were exhausted. After loading a truck all day, driving it to Warner Robins, unloading the truck, and then driving a car back to Grayson, dropping off Eric, and taking another car load of stuff back to Warner Robins. Geeze!! What a long day. Haley and Austin didn't get back home and in bed until 4 a.m.
The last few days of getting out of the apartment were somewhat of a nightmare. I was packing stuff, selling stuff, moving stuff, cleaning stuff, and trying to maintain my sanity.
I never would have made it without my girls!! And, thanks to Hannah's friends - Samantha, Luis, and Eric - who were absolutely amazing help!!! If it wasn't for Luis helping Hadrian pack and clean her room, her stuff would still be there. I was SO relieved to meet the deadline and get the apartment keys turned in by 7 a.m. on August 1st! After a couple of all-nighters, Phase Two was finally done! Yes!!
I was beyond exhausted. I went to my sister's house in Snellville and crashed for a couple of days. Thank you, Joy and Gary!! They have the comfiest bed, by the way. : )
Then, the phone call from the apartment complex came. "Ms. Plott, the apartment manager has decided that you must have your stuff moved out of the garage by Thursday morning at 7 a.m. The manager said I actually didn't have the authority to allow you to keep your stuff in the garage anytime in August, so you have to get out." What?! Seriously?! It was Tuesday afternoon. Come again?!
Yikes!! Panic mode!! I had one day to move my entire garage somewhere. And, if you could have seen my garage, you would understand why I was in panic mode. It was not humanly possible to move this much stuff in one day. Or, was it?! Well, I didn't have a choice but to try!
So, I rented another truck, and started working. And, thanks to Hannah, Eric, Samantha, and Hadrian, we got alot done. But, I couldn't see it happening. I was weary. It was hot. This was too much. But, just as soon as I was about to accept defeat, my brother-in-law, Gary, shows up to help. He worked himself to death for a few hours, but with his help, we finally got the garage cleaned out by midnight. Phase 3 Done!! Yes!! We were done! Totally out! But, it was all on a truck.
We all took showers, and then Hannah, Hadrian, Eric, Luis, and I started a caravan to Warner Robins at 2 a.m. The moving truck and three vehicles all made the trek to a new storage unit . . . that I had to call and rent that day by phone. We arrived in Warner Robins at 4 a.m. to unload the truck . . . thank you, Lord, that I had helpers!!
After about 3 hours of hard labor with all five of us working, the truck was finally unloaded. We ate at Waffle House. Eric and Luis left to drive back to Gwinnett County. We girls returned the truck. And, then, we had to regroup and drive Hadrian to Americus to move into her dorm room at college on the same day. Talk about exhausting! None of us had any sleep that night. But, somehow you do what you have to do.
The good news is that ALL of my stuff is somewhere. And, Haley and Austin are living in their home in Warner Robins, Hannah is living with my wonderful sister and her amazing husband at their home in Snellville, Hadrian is living with all of her college friends in Americus. The goldfish (Sorghum) went to college with Hadrian. The cat, Scooter, went to Snellville with Hannah. The dog, Bella, went to Blairsville to live a carefree life in the mountains. And, I have officially declared myself a GYPSY. More to come about the gypsy life. ; )
Me driving the moving truck. I only side swiped a few things while I was at the wheel. ; )
