Not Another Hurricane?!?!

Nothing grabs a Floridian's attention like the threat of a hurricane. The big ones, not the little ones. Floridians laugh at a category 1 and chuckle at a category 2. But anything above a cat 3 and mass hysteria breaks loose. Mention cat 5 and folks start running for the hills (you know, Georgia, Alabama...).

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. 

Preparing For A Move

The papers were signed, inspections done...now the (not so) fun part would really begin in full force. Decluttering, sorting, packing, labeling, and oh yes, selling.

The home I was leaving was about 1,800 square feet plus a two car garage. We were less people, now that my daughter was married and gone from the nest as well as her older brother. Our new home was smaller - no family room, no third bedroom closed off, and only a one car garage. It was perfect for us; after all, it would just be my youngest son E and myself. But it meant there would be things we wouldn't be taking with us because they simply would not fit.

I had two large storage cabinets in the garage that I'd bought from Lowe's just 4 years earlier. 

I knew that I might be able to fit the smaller cabinet but not the larger. I considered selling them, but my daughter said her mother-in-law was interested in the larger one. I had no problem giving them both away or keeping just the smaller one. I'd used the large cabinet as a pantry which I no longer needed. The smaller one I used to keep tools and cleaners for the car. Her in-laws came by and picked up both cabinets. I was glad because it was one less thing I'd have to pack or re-home.

 

It was easy to empty out because I was mindful to use whatever food was in there rather than go grocery shopping. 

The next thing that had to go was one of the sectionals. I had one in the living room and one in the family room, and although the one in the family room was newer it wasn't as good quality as the one I'd gotten from Costco 4 years before. I decided to list the sectional, which I'd bought off of Amazon, on OfferUp. I spoke with a friend who'd sold things on the app and she said she'd had great experiences. Amazingly, it sold and was picked up all within 2 hours! I decided I would continue posting and see how much I could sell.

I posted my glass tables and ceramic lamps. These had been purchased 20 years before, so I wondered if they would sell, since they were no longer in style.

Although they were pretty and were in excellent condition, neither item got more than some passing interest. I didn't let that deter me, and I posted my china cabinet that I'd lovingly stained. It sold the very next day.

While I loved this piece, I knew I wouldn't need it. The new house had a dry bar right off the dining room that could easily house everything in the china cabinet and then some. I did keep the dining room table, and began using the dining room itself as a staging area for my boxes.

Next, my daughter and son-in-law rented a truck to take her bedroom set, which they'd be using in their guest room. Since there was plenty of room in the truck, I offered her my old patio furniture (too big to fit on our new balcony) and the television with stand from the family room. I had the fireplace/tv stand in the living room, along with the bookcases, and that's all I would need in the new house. 

Once her bedroom set was gone, her bedroom was the first to be emptied out.

I continued to pack, declutter, and take things to Goodwill. The barbeque grill wouldn't be going with me, since I wouldn't have anywhere to put a grill. I tried my best to clean it so I could sell it, but after being outside for years, even with a cover, it was pretty beat up. I put it out on the curb, and before the day was over it was picked up by a Comcast technician who'd been working in the area. 

Everything seemed to be moving right along like clockwork. But it's just like Florida to throw a wrench in the works - a wrench named Dorian. Would we get hit with a category 5 hurricane?! It was time to get back on my knees and pray for a miracle!