So imagine my despair when we heard that there was a hurricane in the Caribbean and it was headed our way. At first we just tracked it. After all, it was just a category 1, but it would disrupt the move and the closing on my house.
We breathed a sigh of relief when Dorian missed Puerto Rico. The island still hadn't fully recovered from Hurricane Maria back in 2017; Dorian could well have decimated what was left. The bad news was, it was headed for Florida. It was just a category 1, but all that rain and wind... Still, we could handle it.
That was August 28. By August 30 it was a cat 2; it intensified to cat 4 by August 31 and became an extremely powerful category 5 on September 1, the day it reached Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. A quick map search on Google will show how close South Florida is to the Bahamas. This poor island got hammered before Dorian moved to destroy Grand Bahama Island where it stalled for a day while it lost strength. When it finally moved away from the Bahamas it had weakened to a category 2.
What was happening to South Florida in the meantime? Initially people had prepared; many put up shutters and bought supplies. I had scheduled for a POD to come on September 4 but I postponed it in anticipation of the hurricane. By August 31, however, the models showed we were no longer in the cone (weather talk for the hurricane is no longer coming our way). I still put up some of the shutters in the back of the house on my daughter's insistence, but all we got was rain. We were heartbroken for the islands of the Bahamas but grateful that the storm turned and avoided us completely.
The storm didn't deter me from the work I needed to get done. Closing was scheduled for September 9. I wasn't about to let a hurricane distract me. I still had items I needed to sell. I listed my barstools on OfferUp on August 30. They were sold and picked up the very next day. I'd bought these barstools several years before from Costco, and since I'd used my rebate check they'd cost me $20 each. I sold all three of them for $60, so basically I'd used them for about 5 years and got my money back :-). I then posted my son's old gaming chair (he'd bought a new one). That sold super quick - same day. So did the lawn mower and pressure washer. I wasn't going to need those anymore.
I called PODS to reschedule the pick up on September 2, once we were certain the hurricane wasn't coming. They gave me some bad news: the date I needed was no longer available. There wouldn't be anything available till September 9, the day of closing. That wasn't gonna work. Since I was closing on the sale of my house on the 9th but wouldn't close on the purchase of my new property for 2 weeks after that, I didn't want to load my things into a truck, unload them into a storage facility, reload them two weeks later and unload again. I began looking for other POD type services and found Pack Rat, which had good reviews and could deliver the POD on September 5. Not only that, they were a couple hundred dollars cheaper! God took care of us again.
I ordered the largest available container, 16'. I had decluttered enough that I believed I could fit everything into the container, and whatever didn't fit would stay behind.
We started with boxes in the back, along with the dining room table. I was a bit concerned, as I watched the space get filled up pretty quickly and there was still a lot that needed to go in.
These racks had to be cleared. Most of what was here was Christmas decor. I decided what I would keep, what I would give away, and what would go to Goodwill. I didn't have time to start selling the smaller items; unfortunately, Hurricane Dorian took up more of my time than I'd anticipated. I kept only the items that I knew I couldn't part with, and got rid of the rest.
By the time I was done, all that was left was where the items that needed to go in my car: my toolbox and cleaning items.
That weekend my daughter and son-in-law came over and helped us move everything we could fit into the POD, since pick up was scheduled for Monday the 9th, closing day.
We emptied the pantry...
The dining room...
Shrink-wrapped the sectional before loading into the container...
And took everything out of my son's bedroom...
J came to pick up the wall unit in the master bedroom.
This massive piece of furniture is about 12 feet long and 7 feet high. It had been put together inside the bedroom because it wouldn't fit in the room otherwise - it's taller than the doorway. It was mostly empty, even before the move. I'd asked J months earlier if he wanted it since I wasn't using it. He gave me the same story of "yes I want it, I'll pick it up when I have a chance," but never did. When I told him I'd sold the house I gave him a chance again to take the furniture piece if he wanted it, otherwise it was going to the dump. So a few days before the move J came to take it apart before hauling it away.
He picked it up September 7, just 2 days before closing. That left only the king size bedframe, mattress and box springs, and nightstands. As we finished packing everything else up into the container, I quickly realized these last items were not going to fit. Yet, I wasn't upset about it. We'd owned the bedroom set for 17 years. Yes, the mattress was that old. While I'd loved my big, comfy bed, I felt it was time to let it go. I'd sold enough items that I could easily afford a new bed and bedroom furniture, and that's what I would do.
That Sunday, September 8, I said my goodbyes at church. That was the hardest day for me. I was moving a good 45 minutes away, not convenient for traveling 2 - 3 times a week for church services and activities. Everyone treated me so lovingly, all I could do was cry. That afternoon, my neighbor kindly took whatever was left (including the bedroom furniture) to the dump. I'd put a few things out on the curb to be picked up, and people in the neighborhood came by to take them. I went back and checked all the rooms before leaving for my daughter's house.
Closing was the next day at 10:30 am. It all happened so quickly, and 19 years of memories were put safely away. I went by the house in the morning one last time to take some trash out of the garage, and walked through one last time to say goodbye.
Part of me was sad; I'd worked hard to make this a beautiful and comfortable home for my family. But a big part of me knew it was time for new beginnings. I would treasure in my heart the happy memories made here, and try to forget the painful ones. Keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus, I relished the thought of a new day, and making new memories.
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