The Final Push: Our Big Move!
So, we’ve been fairly silent social media-wise over the past week, and with good reason! Last Friday, August 5th was both of our last day at work. It was a bittersweet day wrapping things up and saying goodbyes to everyone, which was a surreal feeling and didn’t really feel like goodbye for me. Aaron enjoyed reminiscing with his coworkers about his last 7 years at the LAO. I feverishly finished meeting with and sharing information with my replacement and HR team and going through and reorganizing my files, wrote and gave thank-you cards to my coworkers and boss, and enjoyed a lovely, surprise cupcake celebration hosted by my boss and one of my coworkers. When I left the office, it felt mostly as if I was just leaving a bit early on a Friday afternoon to start the weekend. Overall, I feel like I left things in a very good place!
For our last, weekly Friday night date night in Sac for awhile, we enjoyed happy hour/dinner at Lou’s Sushi, one of our local, neighborhood favorites within a few blocks walking distance from our home. Of course, the Seafood Nachos and California Roll (with REAL crab!) were the highlights for me, as usual, as I savored eating them one last time before leaving Midtown Sacramento for our travels.
Saturday we spent most of the day finishing up packing and had a break in-between for several hours to meet some friends for a Bon Voyage happy hour at Lucca. Note: Their happy hour is from 12 p.m – 6 p.m. on Saturdays in the bar area only (they do have tables in that area in addition to the bar itself). They feature $2.50-$7.50 bites, $5-$18 wines, and $4-$7 beer/drinks.
Sunday was our LONG moving day we’d been anticipating. After feeling exhausted already preparing over the prior couple of weeks, this was our final logistical push to get through. We picked up our moving truck from The Home Depot (they contract with Penske) and got a great, flat rate for a one-way pick up in Sac and drop off in Fresno (all the other rental companies we researched had per-mile, non-local transportation rates, which were significantly more). Waiting for the truck took longer than anticipated, as there was some documentation in their computer system showing our truck was rented out and not returned yet and the associate had to contact and work with someone else over the phone to get it resolved; we were mindfully patient, seeing it as an unexpected inconvenience along our journey that we’ll undoubtedly encounter time and time again throughout our travels. After all, we weren’t in a time crunch, so we could wait.
Once we got home, it took us about 2 hours to load our truck with a majority of our belongings (mostly boxes and furniture). What a sweaty workout lifting and carrying these items (which was welcomed but challenging at times)! I was proud I could handle everything except for our black leather couch, which I could lift but not safely carry; thankfully, a guy passing by on the street whom we asked for help to get it from our front yard to the truck was willing.
Aaron drove the truck (which I am so thankful for!) and I drove my car down to Fresno. I enjoyed cranking the volume up on and singing along with music from my collection of old CDs from my childhood, teenage, and college years (yes, N*Sync, O Town, Britney Spears were among them — I got it out of my system while Aaron wasn’t in the car, which I’m sure he’s grateful for)!
Upon our arrival to my Papou’s house, where we’ll be keeping our stuff, my mom and Thia came to greet us and offer their help unloading our truck and my car. This was unexpected and very much appreciated, as we were so physically and mentally exhausted from preparing for the move and actually moving and their help cut our unloading time in half!
We spent most of the day on Monday in Fresno, dropping off our truck at The Home Depot and hanging out at the house before driving back down to Sac together in my car. It was our first workday not at work, and we took notice of that throughout the day, acknowledging how nice it felt to not wake up to an alarm and work schedule and be out and about instead!
Tuesday our main focal point was meeting the housecleaner service we hired at 11:00 a.m. at our place and coming in and out throughout the day to run errands. Surprisingly, they only sent 1 housecleaner for our 2-bedroom, 1,100 square-foot house! While she did a very thorough, comprehensive job, it took her OVER 15 HOURS (she left around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning)! We felt so bad for her and thought her company was ridiculous for having her work like that until the job was done without sending any additional help! Needless to say, she deserved double amount of the tip we had initially planned to give to her. We stayed up until she left (which was SO challenging for us, being so tired from the logistics of preparing for and carrying out our move and its aftermath) and helped her take her equipment to her car. During the day and evening, we paid our bills and arranged for services to be discontinued for PG&E, SMUD, and Comcast. We also found out the City requires a 2-week advance notice to pick up items, so we had a small panic to give away our 2 mattresses and bathroom storage that won’t fit into our cars at the 11th hour. It worked out fine, as we gave them all away for free on Craigslist. We wrote thank-you cards to friends and coworkers for thoughtful going-away gifts.
Wednesday we felt sick from getting so little sleep. Coffee helped (although mine was caffeinated, and since I’m so sensitive to caffeine, I felt anxious and shaky throughout the day and evening). Our professional carpet cleaner arrived early and completed the job within 20 minutes (a baffling comparison to our housecleaner experience the day before)! We got our cars cleaned at Harv’s Car Wash, gave away our remaining mattress on Craigslist, and packed up remaining items around the house. Takeout Grilled Pork Spring Rolls from Coriander (my favorite!), down the street a few blocks from our house, was perfect to enjoy one last time before we leave!
We gave our BBQ to a friend and had our final walkthrough with our landlord. We reminisced about our memorable experiences in our house over the past 4 years over dinner sitting on the floor. We slept on the floor since our airbed pump/charger had gone out. It was a reflective and kind of sad experience. I had also been reflecting personally about my life to this point over the past couple of days; what I’ve experienced, ways in which I’ve both changed and remained the same, how I’ve developed to this point, what I’ve accomplished, and what I’m about to embark upon. Overall, I’m glad to say I’m happy at this point in my life with myself, my marriage, and where I am and am in such a good place looking forward to our near future experiences together.
Thursday morning we got more immunizations, consolidated the remaining items in our home, and loaded them into our cars. After taking some final photos of our empty home and saying our internal, personal goodbyes, we drove separately to Fresno, stopping on the way to have lunch with my best childhood friend, Nelarie, near where she works in Riverbank. It was SO nice to see her and give her a BIG hug before our travels.
It was lovely to watch the Olympics at my grandpa’s house last night, showered and relaxed, and go to bed by 10:00 p.m. and get a full night’s sleep. This morning (Friday) was our first day of feeling normal again, not focused on moving logistics for the first time in a full week! We enjoyed a morning bike ride in Fresno, since our bikes are here and I’ve always wanted to ride the bike path here. We were also itching for a workout after the focus on moving has been moved past.
We’ll spend the next few days continuing to get errands and prep checked off of our list while spending time with my side of our family in Fresno.
As of Monday, we’ll be on our way to the next leg of our epic U.S. road trip!
Until next time,
Elena 🙂