Moving Day Memories...

Moving days are not easy.  Most often John and I have rented a U-Haul or Ryder truck, loaded ourselves with the help of very kind friends and driven away with John driving the truck and me driving our car.  Our first out of state move was from Racine, WI to Loomis, NE in September 1972.  Our only child for that move was fifteen month old John Groves Worden.  We had a harness that attached to a strap that was installed in the back seat of our car.  He had some freedom with that harness but wasn’t completely loose. 

Three years later the next cross country move began with the loading of a Ryder truck on January 4, 1976 with the outdoor temperature at a cool -9 degrees Fahrenheit.  What kindness was shown us by the brave men who stayed at the task until it was completed. There was also help in completing all packing inside the house as well as feeding those who shared the experience with us.  For that move we had two sons, a station wagon and the truck.  

Before we could drive away from Loomis however, there was an important moving day stop to be made at the home of Alice Dahlstedt.   Alice was a single gal in her retirement years.  She was very devoted to the church and to our family.  She was especially fond of Johnny and he of her.  Apparently at some point, four year old Johnny had asked Alice about the wringer washing machine she had and used weekly that was kept in an enclosed porch at the back of her home.  She had promised him that she would show him how it worked and let him help her use it.  That had not yet happened but Alice wanted to keep her promise before we left town.  She was ready to demonstrate the wringer washer when we were able to stop and let our sons have this experience  at her home.  It was a memorable moment for all of us but made the leaving more emotional  than it already was.  We dearly loved those folks in Loomis, NE.Our drive to Brooklyn, NY from Loomis, NE would take several days.  The boys spent most of their time in the back of the station wagon where they could play, nap and keep asking “when will we get there?”  In 1976 there were no child car seats so our boys were not secured in any way.  Part of the time one of them would ride with Daddy in the truck but that was probably even more unsafe than the car.  The truck had some problem that had to be checked out in Des Moines, IA  and fortunately was able to be repaired without a lengthy delay.   Weather became treacherous in IL causing us to exit early where we gratefully found one last motel room  available on one of our travel days.    We stopped in Strongsville, Ohio for a night with John’s Aunt Berneice and Uncle Richard Sperling.  A man from the Brooklyn, NY church met us there.  He drove our Ryder truck the rest of the way so that John and I didn’t have to drive ourselves into NYC to our Brooklyn, NY parsonage.  We arrived there on January 9, 1976.  One year later this photo below shows what our home there looked like in January 1977.

 

Four years later we would move from Brooklyn, NY to Hartland, WI with our two sons and nearly three year old daughter.   We had a moving van for that move which happened in November 1979.  The van was loaded by men the movers had hired but we packed all our non furniture things.  That element made moving day somewhat less taxing but before that day ended we would have experienced extremely agonizing situations.  

Fortunately my parents had gotten a ride to our home with one of my uncles so they were lots of help with child care and packing but much was still to be done during that moving day during the loading of the huge moving truck.  One of my closest friends, Arne Olsen, came by early in the day to say “Good-bye”.  When she saw that I hadn’t even starting packing the kitchen, she rolled up her sleeves and pitched in for the rest of the day.  She and my mother filled 32 boxes of kitchen items before that room was finished and ready to load. 

Our house had 4 levels including the basement.  The men loading the van made trips up and down with furniture for hours.  John spent most of the day at his office at the church as he packed his things there.  Somehow our boys got picked up after school and Sarah spent most of the day with our next door neighbor whose little girl was one month older than Sarah.  Their friendship was so sweet.  Sarah is wearing knee socks below with Kristin Railey in braids.

Moving day plodded on and wrapped up in late afternoon, early evening.  The gentleman in charge of the van came to me as he prepared to pay his crew so they could leave and asked me to get out the contract we had signed with the moving company.  I walked out of the empty kitchen to the dining room where our breakfront was that had a filing place for our important documents.  But, Oh, No!!!  That piece of furniture and all else was already loaded and ready for departure!  Of course I was shocked and bewildered!!!  The moving man told me they could not leave without the papers that needed to be signed and that keeping the crew longer in order to unpack, get to the contract and repack the load would have to be paid by me as it was my fault there was an extension of time for the loading/unloading process.  I understood and accepted that aspect so the men started unloading, neighbors positioned their car to shine light into the darkness while the men worked and I did my best to remain composed.  In an hour or so, the papers were located, signed and with the van reloaded it began its drive to Harland, WI.

John got home.  We finalized clean up in the house as well as the packing of our car.  Our sons must have been picked up at school by our friends, Jim and Donna Speer.  They had invited us for supper and an overnight stay before we drove out of town on Tuesday morning November 6, 1979.  I think our supper was served about 11:00 PM.  Moving day had finally come to an end.  Embarrassing memories have lasted a lifetime.