2020 Life Logs, Day 101: Moving into 43 Grasmere
Date: Friday, April 10, 2020
Weather: Mostly Overcast, Mid-Day Hail; High 48 degrees, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a Good Friday in more ways than the traditional. It was a good Friday for the Goldstones. Exhausting, sometimes frustrating, but a good day because they are spending their first night in their new home. The frustration was that there was just no way that Heather, Jed, and boys could get everything loaded into the U-Haul in one day. They got the main furniture moved, but there are lots of bits and pieces still to go. Thankfully, they don’t have to be out of the house they are selling until near the end of the month. But it is exhausting to think that this moving will continue on and on. They will get there; it just seems so hard right now.
I started my day by heading straight to the new house to unload my car that we had packed last night. On the 4th box, I did it. I lifted just the wrong way and out went ye old back. Really bad timing. I can still function, albeit a bit bent over, so there will be no more lifting for me for a while. What a bummer. I can still be helpful with cleaning and organizing, but it does slow things down a little bit to have one less person to carry things. Nevertheless, I continued to unload the car and then headed to what I’ll call the old house. Once there, I found everyone just a bit fragile. It had finally hit all of them that they were leaving the only home they have ever known as a family. The wonderful memories will go with them to the new house, but parting is such sweet sorrow. By day’s end, however, I saw everyone’s spirits lifted. Once the furniture was in the living room and dining room in the new house, the sun started shining and it lit up the whole house. The most striking thing is that you feel like you are in a tree house. There are two sets of double sliders in the living room and another set in the master bedroom, so lots of glass from which to take in the beautiful view. The front of the house looks like many other homes, but the view from the back side of the house looks down on the backyard and the tree tops of 30 acres of conservation land. The sun rises on that side of the house and sets on the front side of the house. The dining room is on the front side, so the early risers will have breakfast watching the sun rise and all will view dinner time sunsets.
Mid-afternoon, Heather and Jed had arranged to have “front porch” photos taken at both houses to support the local Service Center. The Front Steps Project is a national movement. A photographer comes and takes photos of families that are homebound due to coronavirus stay-at-home orders. The families come out on the front steps and the photographer takes the photos from a distance. Families pay a fee for this and the proceeds of the Falmouth project goes to the Service Center. Heather and Jed wanted to support the Service Center and loved the idea of having ‘official’ photos on the actual moving day. It did take time out of the moving day, but it officially documented the move. The photographer that came to the new house asked each of the boys to think of a word that describes their feelings about this coronavirus time. Ollie came up with the first word, dangerous. So true. Then she went on to tell the boys that this is something they will remember throughout their lives. We are living through a time that is unprecedented and she pointed out that moving during this time really is something to remember. It would be so much easier if we could hire help, but that is just not in the picture. So onward we go.
