I spent this weekend helping to move my sister and her family from one South Carolina house to another. It started Friday with a 4 am get-your-butt-out-of-bed-now alarm. I then drove to Atlanta to meet up with my ride, the fairly comfortable back seat of a big ol' Ford 150 V8 pickup. We drove and drove and drove, then packed and packed and packed. After pizza came the collapse.
Spent Friday night in a local hotel--Holiday Inn Express has the BEST cinnamon rolls at breakfast!--and was able to spend an hour, maybe an hour and a half, on the phone with Sarah (her conference in Charleston was cancelled) processing the whole experience and analyzing various facets of life. One of the things I have learned to really appreciate about dating (yep, I am gonna call it dating, not courting, since it is dating with intention) is having someone really want to talk to me about what is going on in life. Having someone walk with me through it all. Having the invaluable help of someone listening and observing and commiserating and laughing.
Moving is such a wacky thing. It can show all of your strengths (organization, got-it-togetherness, presence of mind, flexibility, vulnerability, ability to let other people help you, thankfulness) or it can bray all your weaknesses to the world (indecision, helplessness, lack of gratitude, inability to plan, ability to drink too much too early in the day, un-endurance).
On Saturday we loaded the last things, drove 50 minutes to the new house, and unpacked the 24 foot UHaul truck in 45 minutes, then unloaded the various vans and pickups in 15 minutes. We were a machine. (We're available for hire at exorbitant rates.) We also met a very tattooed manic depressive neighbor with a propensity for profanity. And we stood around for a while doing family stuff.
Then lunch at a local greasy spoon--amazing bacon double cheeseburgers and lots of great french fries--and fast driving back to Atlanta. Dinner at Macaroni Grill with Covenant's former Associate Dean of Students. Home. Collapse.
I think I'm recovered. I got to work almost on time this morning.
Posted by mike at September 22, 2003 08:52 PMMan, do I miss the Former Associate Dean of Covenant College. She should get a blog!
Posted by: JosiahQ at September 22, 2003 09:05 PMShe should get a blog. Hey Mike, where is that Macaroni Grill of which you speak?
Posted by: gosey at September 23, 2003 08:58 AMWow! You are the truest of Weekend Warriors. Let me just add...you're a good brother, too. So are you calling the new flame a "girlfriend" now too? LOL!!! Yeah, really, courting is a stupid word unless it is being used to describe a man formally and relentlessly seeking the hand of a woman from her father and the heart of a woman from herself whilst the aforementioned woman observes bemusedly. I, for one, have never been able to do it "right."
AFD and I had lunch at MacGrill last week too! I had this amazing sauteed spinach and garlic salad. THE END
Posted by: LBB at September 23, 2003 02:22 PMMike who are you dating?!?
Posted by: Charity at September 23, 2003 04:00 PMLBB--Sarah and I have always agreed to the terms boyfriend and girlfriend. We've also always agreed to not try and explain courting to people. I don't feel guilty about that--the way we're doing it looks a whole lot like dating. And besides, Kevin Skogen always says, "I don't care what you call it--dating, courting, mudwrestling--as long as you do the right stuff."
Posted by: jeep at September 23, 2003 07:44 PM