After several months of excitement and anticipation, and several weeks of frenzied work to finish up the house and prepare it for our arrival, the day we have been working towards is finally here: we are moving in.
On 23 September 2011, all of our furniture and possessions left Edmonton on a truck, most of it bound for a warehouse in Mississauga. There it has sat ever since, as we waited to sell the house, and then find a new one, and then wait for renovations to be completed. Finally, the waiting is over.
The truck rolled up at 9:15am, pretty much right on schedule. Opening the back doors revealed that it was packed, quite literally, to the rafters. There wasn’t an inch left of space unused. In fact, the movers had to be careful opening the doors so that the last pieces placed on the truck didn’t actually fall out.
A full truck A very, very full truck.
Dianne and I had worked out a moving-in plan, based upon our recollection of what was to arrive, and our plans of what would now go where. The challenge was that we were working with recollection. Nearly a year-and-a-half later, we had only a general understanding of what was there. Worse, because we hadn’t actually packed the boxes, we really didn’t know where everything was. The result was a best-efforts basis to get things in rough proximity to where they needed to wind up.
Halfway there. And still a great deal more to come.
The challenge facing us was quickly driven home. A floor lamp came off the back of the truck, one that was clearly ours. It was on the inventory, and it looked like something we would own. At the same time, none of us had any recollection of it actually being ours. Neither of us were entirely sure where it had been in our previous house, and had no clue where it was going in this one. It wasn’t until a half-hour later that one of us finally remembered it having been in the media room.
At the same time, there was furniture that we expected to see that didn’t actually show up. Specifically, we were missing an entire bedroom set. We had given a number of furniture pieces to good friends of ours in Edmonton before we left. While it was entirely plausible that we had given them the guest bedroom furniture, neither of us remembered doing so, and both of us thought the set was on the truck. At the same time, the inventory didn’t show it being loaded in Edmonton. The only thing to do in order to confirm was ask. While apparently we did give the furniture to our friends, and are entirely happy that it has found a good home, there is nothing quite so awkward as asking, “So… stupid question, but… did we give you this furniture?”
Eight hours later, we are in.
Six hours in, and the last box made it off the truck and into the house. A couple more hours, and the furniture that had disassembled was now reassembled. Finally, after long last, we are in. Our furniture has arrived, and we have officially taken possession of Boo Manor. It feels good to have reached this milestone. In the months of construction, there has been a progressive building of excitement. The waiting is over. Almost two years to the day after deciding to leave Edmonton, the journey is nearly over. We have a home.
Home, at last.
