Philadelphia is a welcoming city. And moving there last week was a fun, harrowing and hilarious experience. Toshi, my son-in-law, took an early morning train from Manhattan to a town along the Hudson River to pick up a U-Haul truck and help with the move. He said it was a great ride along the River. I had a few good people helping me. Actually, good isn’t an adequate word, they were clever and came with a sense of humor – much needed qualities when moving without professionals. Professionals couldn’t be used on this trip as there were stops to be made and dates to work around.
Someone who swore up and down that he’d be around to help load never showed. Somehow deep down I sensed that would happen. However, I think it’s good to trust. And, happily, it was for the best because, Toshi, being who he is – always resourceful – found a big, well-muscled fellow working in a nearby shop who was more than eager to help out and make some money. He and Toshi gave it their all and the truck was set to go with everything loaded in it in no time at all. Good call Toshi.
On we rode to the Catskills for additional furnishings, and to meet my cousin Pauline who came from NH to drive a U-Haul to Philly. She’s a brave one. There she waited at the town’s U-Haul office for a tow dolly for her car, while at the country house Toshi and the former country store owner wrestled with a beautiful hefty bed trying to load it onto the U-Haul truck. The former country store owner has a name, but he continues to be called, when he’s not within earshot, the former country store owner. All right! The bed is secured and we’re off to meet Pauline. There’s no phone signal at the country house, and we’ve no way of knowing that Pauline has called three times as she sat watching the friendly, new owners of the U-Haul company trying to get their computer in operation. After they’d entered all of her information, their computer went down. By the time we arrived, they were asking anyone in sight for help in restoring it. There was nothing to do but wait since we needed the tow dolly, and it wasn’t forthcoming until the problem with the computer was solved.
In the meantime, we learned a lot about happenings in Puerto Rico and the Colombia drug cartel from people wandering in and out of the office. And we learned that four months ago someone exchanged the hustle and bustle of owning a restaurant in Manhattan for the ease and enjoyment of owning a restaurant in this little town. Word of mouth (the best kind of advertisement) is sending customers his way. So off we went across the street to the word-of-mouth place. Toshi had heard the reviews and was already there for a quick bite before going off in another direction having somehow materialized a ride for that appointment. It’s amazing how things get accomplished out of sheer necessity. There are always possibilities one never imagines until necessity chimes in.
When we returned to the U-Haul office, the two friendly, new owners were under their large desk still working on their computer. From our end it looked as if they were getting nowhere fast. Only thing to remember about this situation is that it won’t last forever. Nothing ever does. Right?